In Genesis 2, God created the seventh day Sabbath and declared it to be holy….

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

So when did it cease to be holy?

In Exodus 20, God made the seventh day Sabbath part of the Ten Commandments….

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

But didn’t Jesus do away with that?

Not at all.

Jesus kept the Sabbath perfectly.  In fact, He kept the entire Law perfectly.

Not only that, He also taught that His followers were to fully obey all of the commandments of the Torah.  The following comes from Matthew 5:17-19….

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Does that not seem clear?

Those that keep the commandments and teach others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Later, in Matthew 24, Jesus is speaking of the Tribulation period and he makes it clear that the Sabbath will still be significant during that time….

Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.

So why would Jesus mention the Sabbath there if it no longer mattered?

In addition, if you read through Ezekiel chapters 45 and 46, you will see that the Sabbath will be kept during the 1000 year reign of Christ following the Tribulation period.

Finally, in Isaiah 66:22-23 we read the following….

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD.

So has God made a new heavens and a new earth yet?

Of course not.

This passage is speaking of the future.

And in the future, we see that the Sabbath and the New Moon will be kept.

So are you keeping them now?

If not, why not?

For much more on the history of the seventh day Sabbath, please watch the video series posted below.

It is narrated by world famous actor Hal Holbrook.  After watching this series of videos, it will be difficult for anyone to continue to argue that the seventh day Sabbath has been done away with.

Part 1….

Part 2….

Part 3….

Part 4….

Part 5….

So what do you think of these videos? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below….

Most people know that King David ruled over a united kingdom of Israel.

After David’s son King Solomon died, Israel divided into 2 kingdoms.

The ten northern tribes rebelled against Solomon’s son and became known in the Scriptures as “the house of Israel” or as “the house of Ephraim” which referred to the most dominant tribe in the northern kingdom which was Ephraim.

Three tribes (Judah, Benjamin and the Levites) stayed in the south and they became known in the Scriptures as “the house of Judah” which referred to the most dominant tribe in the southern kingdom which was Judah.

As we see in the following Scriptures, God promised to bring back both Judah AND Ephraim to the land of Israel in the last days. Judah (the Jews) started returning to Israel in 1948. However, God also promised in Ezekiel 37 that Ephraim WOULD return and be reunited with Judah….

Ezekiel 37:15-22

15 The word of the LORD came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Ephraim’s stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. 18 “When your countrymen ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ 19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph-which is in Ephraim’s hand-and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ 20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.

So the promise of God is that once this happens they will never be divided again.

Has this happened yet?

No.

So it is a prophecy that is waiting to be fulfilled.

This promise of a reunification between Judah and Ephraim is also found in Isaiah 11….

Isaiah 11:10-13

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

12 He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.

13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
and Judah’s enemies will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

So who is Ephraim today? Long before Christ came, Assyria invaded the northern kingdom and took the ten tribes away and scattered them to the four winds just as the Scriptures foretold. Many Israelites escaped the invading armies by boat and settled throughout the Mediterranean Sea area. Others escaped to areas to the north of the land of Israel.  In future posts on this site you will be reading about how there is evidence that they scattered throughout Europe (and even further).

So how can we identify them today? A good place to start is in Genesis.

Genesis 48:17-19

17And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

18And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

The term in verse 19, “a multitude of nations”, should literally read “the fullness of the gentiles” because that is what the Hebrew text actually says. Even back in Genesis, God knew that Ephraim would someday be mixed in with the gentile nations.

Today God has been revealing to His people that much of what is called “the church” around the world is Ephraim. But Ephraim is unfamiliar with many of God’s ways….

Hosea 8:11-12

11Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

12I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

Isn’t that an exact description of our day? God has written to Ephraim the great things of His Law in the Bible, but we consider the “Old Testament” to be a “strange thing”, don’t we?

But the days of restoration are coming just as the Lord promised through Jeremiah….

Jeremiah 23:5-8

5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.

7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

The truth is that God is calling Ephraim from the 4 corners of the earth to be reunited to his brother Judah, and they will have one shepherd (Yahshua – Jesus the Messiah) over them.

If you are interested in learning more about God’s plan for the ten lost tribes of Israel, I encourage you to start researching this topic.

One great author that has done a whole series of books about the history of the ten lost tribes of Israel is Steven M. Collins.  I very, very highly encourage you to get these books and to read them….

#1 The Origins and Empire of Ancient Israel (The Lost Tribes of Israel)

#2 Israel’s Lost Empires (The Lost Tribes of Israel)

#3 Parthia: The Forgotten Ancient “Superpower” and Its Role in Biblical History (The Lost Tribes of Israel)

#4 Israel”s Tribes Today

Have you ever thought about why people celebrate a holiday called Christmas?  After all, the word “Christmas” is not found anywhere in the Bible.  Not only that, but there is also absolutely no mention of December 25th in the Bible.  In fact, we know that Jesus was not even born during the winter since the shepherds were still out with their flocks at night when He was born.  So where in the world did this holiday come from?  Have you ever been taught the true history of Christmas?

The first Christians did not celebrate “Christmas”.  In fact, “Christmas” did not become an official Christian holiday until the middle of that 4th century.  But December 25th was celebrated as a major pagan holiday for centuries and centuries long before Jesus was ever born.  It was a very dark occult festival that celebrated the birthday of the “sun god” in all his various forms.  Unfortunately, most Christians have never learned about the pagan origins of Christmas.  Most Christians seem to believe that the history of Christmas began when Jesus was born.  But that is not the truth at all.  As you will read below, God established an entirely different holiday (that you can find in the Bible) for the birthday of Jesus.  But instead, the Roman Catholic religion latched on to the birthday of the sun god and married it to the birth of Christ.  This birthday of the sun god can be traced all the way back to ancient Babylon.  In fact, most of our “modern Christmas traditions” can be traced all the way back to ancient Babylon.  Unfortunately, most Christians simply do not care.  Most Christians love Christmas and would never give it up no matter what they learned about it.  Most Christians are going to believe what they want to believe no matter what you tell them.

If you are curious about the real history of Christmas, read on, but be warned – it may “spoil” the Christmas holiday for you forever.

But at least you will know the truth.

In his classic work, “The Two Babylons”, author Alexander Hislop explained that the Christian holiday of “Christmas” did not exist until hundreds of years after the time of Jesus….

“Indeed, it is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that the day of our Lord’s birth cannot be determined, and that within the Christian Church NO SUCH FESTIVAL AS CHRISTMAS WAS EVER HEARD OF TILL THE THIRD CENTURY, and that not till the FOURTH CENTURY was far advanced did it gain much observance. How, then, did the Romish church fix on December 25th as Christmas-day? Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and LONG BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA ITSELF, A FESTIVAL WAS CELEBRATED AMONG THE HEATHEN, AT THAT PRECISE TIME OF THE YEAR, IN HONOR OF THE BIRTH OF THE SON OF THE BABYLONIAN QUEEN OF HEAVEN; and it may fairly be presumed that, IN ORDER TO CONCILIATE THE HEATHEN, AND TO SWELL THE NUMBER OF THE NOMINAL ADHERENTS TO CHRISTIANITY, THE SAME FESTIVAL WAS ADOPTED BY THE ROMAN CHURCH, giving it the name of Christ. This tendency on the part of Christians to MEET PAGANISM HALF-WAY was very early developed” (The Two Babylons, p. 92-93).

In fact, Hislop tells us that the world “Yule” can be traced all the way back to ancient Babylon.  It turns out that the theme of a child being born to the Queen of Heaven was very prevalent throughout the ancient pagan world….

“That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies, with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin. In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, ‘about the time of the winter solstice.’ The very name by which Christmas is popularly known among us — Yule-day — proves at once its pagan and Babylonian origin. ‘Yule’ is the Chaldee name for an ‘infant’ or ‘little child’; and as the 25th of December was called by our Pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors, ‘Yule-day,’ or the ‘Child’s-day,’ and the night that preceded it, ‘Mother-night,’ long before they came in contact with Christianity, that sufficiently proves its real character. Far and wide, in the realms of Paganism, was this birthday observed.” (Hislop, p. 93-94).

When you sit down and analyze the various pagan religions that spread throughout the ancient world, you quickly realize that all of them can pretty much be traced back to ancient Babylon and to a handful of characters.  After the flood of Noah, the first great “world ruler” to arise once human civilization got rolling again was named Nimrod.  Nimrod was also known as Marduk and Gilgamesh and after his death he eventually came to be worshipped as Baal, Osiris, Apollo and many, many other “sun gods”.  Nimrod was exceedingly wicked, and he even married his own mother.  Her name was Semiramis, and from her came virtually all of the “goddesses” of the ancient world including Isis, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Aphrodite, Venus and Diana.  Many of these “goddesses” came to be associated with the moon.

After Nimrod died, Semiramis became pregnant.  The people were instructed to believe that Nimrod the “sun god” had been “reincarnated” and that he was coming back as the child that Semiramis was carrying.  The birth of her son, Tammuz, became associated with the rebirth of the sun.  This is the origin for all of the art throughout the ancient world that we see of a “goddess” holding her child.  It can all be traced back to Semiramis and Tammuz.

Whether Tammuz was actually born on December 25th or not, the truth is that in the ancient world this date became associated with the “rebirth” of the sun god Nimrod in the person of Tammuz.

In fact, it is said that as a part of this winter solstice celebration in ancient Babylon, pagans believed that a heroic supernatural figure (the sun god Nimrod) would visit an evergreen tree and leave gifts on December 25th.  Now keep in mind that this was long, long before Jesus was ever born. From its early Babylonian roots, the celebration of the birth or “rebirth” of the sun god on December 25th came to be celebrated under various names all over the ancient world. You see, the winter solstice occurs a few days before December 25th each year. The winter solstice is the day of the year when daylight is the shortest. In ancient times, December 25th was the day each year when the day started to become noticeably longer. Thus it was fitting for the early pagans to designate December 25th as the date of the birth or the “rebirth” of the sun god.

The truth is that thousands of years before there was a “Santa Claus”, there was another supernatural figure (Nimrod) who would supposedly visit a tree and leave gifts every December 25th.

His name was Nimrod.

According to ancient Babylonian tradition, Semiramis claimed that after the untimely death of her son/husband Nimrod, a full grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a dead tree stump. Semiramis claimed that Nimrod would visit that evergreen tree and leave gifts each year on the anniversary of the birth of the sun god, which just happened to be on December 25th.

This is the true origin of the Christmas tree.

On Bibletools.org, Mike Ford describes this ancient pagan tradition about Nimrod this way….

After Nimrod’s death (c. 2167 BC), Semiramis promoted the belief that he was a god. She claimed that she saw a full-grown evergreen tree spring out of the roots of a dead tree stump, symbolizing the springing forth of new life for Nimrod. On the anniversary of his birth, she said, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts under it.

On that same site, John Plunkett describes the ancient pagan myth regarding December 25th in this manner….

From many ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod’s untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree.

From this original fable peddled by Semiramis (the “Queen of Heaven”) came the tradition for pagans to go out to the holy “groves” and leave gifts for Nimrod (who later came to be worshipped as “Baal”) at an evergreen tree.

Does that sound like a “Christian” holiday to you?

In “The Two Babylons”, on page 93 Hislop bemoans the fact that the early Roman Catholics adopted this holiday as a way to attract pagan “converts”….

“Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honor of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven. It may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ adopted the same festival. This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism halfway was very early developed; and we find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect, and contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition.”

But even though Christianity adopted this pagan holiday and renamed it, that doesn’t mean that the pagans stopped celebrating it.

The truth is that the pagan holiday of “Yule” has been celebrated by the pagans of northern Europe from late December through early January for ages. Yule logs were traditionally lit throughout northern Europe to honor the pagan god Thor. The festival would continue until the Yule log burned out – which could take up to twelve days. This is where we get the so-called “12 days of Christmas”.

In fact, Wiccans, neo-pagans and even many witches still celebrate Yule to this day. For many of them, it is one of the most important days of the year.  Many of them think that it is incredibly funny when Christians use the pagan word Yule.  The following excerpt was taken from a website on witchcraft:

Birthday of the Twins:

Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) holy day. Birthday of the Twins, Heru Sa Aset and Bast, children of Aset [Isis]. Origin of Yule and Christmas. On Winter Solstice Asar [Osiris] dies. Aset [Isis] with the magick help of Nebt Het [Nephthys] creates a Djed Pillar [artificial penis] for Her husband and impregnates Herself. For three full days (December 22-24) Asar lies dead and the Twins grow in Aset’s belly. On this day (December 25th) the Twins are born, the reincarnation or resurrection of Their Father. The green tree is a symbol of the green-skinned Asar, God of fertility and vegetation. The colored lights are symbols of Aset, Goddess of magick and divine light. Red, green, and white are the traditional candle colors of Bast (this was Her birthday alone for several thousand years of early Kemetic history), later being adapted to red for Aset (the color of the Mother’s menstrual flow), green for Asar (the color of vegetation), and white for the Twins (the color of pure light).

So where did the word “Christmas” come from?

Well, the truth is that the word “Christmas” is not actually found anywhere in the entire Bible.

In fact, the word “Christmas” was not even invented until about a thousand years after Jesus left this earth.

The Catholic Encyclopedia even admits this….

“The word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038.”

Before it was called “Christmas”, the December 25th holiday was referred to in England as “Yule”.

Considering the fact that “Yule” is the Babylonian word for “infant” that is a very disturbing fact.

Yes, “Yule” celebrates the birth of an “infant”, but that infant is not Jesus Christ.

In fact, Jesus was not even born on December 25th.

The reality is that it would have simply been far too cold for shepherds to be out with their sheep at night in Israel on December 25th.

The vast majority of Christian scholars now acknowledge this fact.

So when was Jesus actually born?

Well, using the clues given to us in the Scriptures and by following the chronology given in the gospel of Luke, we can determine that Jesus was almost certainly born during the Feast of Tabernacles.  In fact, it seems most likely that He was born on the very first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

So what was the Feast of Tabernacles?

Well, each year God would have His people gather in the city of Jerusalem and live in booths or tents.

Now why in the world would God have His people do that?

Well, it was a “prophetic picture story” of what would happen in the future.

For centuries upon centuries in advance, God had His people gather in the area of the world where Jesus would be born (Bethlehem is just 5 miles away from Jerusalem), at the exact time of the year when Jesus would be born, and He had them live in temporary humble shelters to foreshadow exactly how Jesus would enter the world.

In the gospel of Luke there are clues that we can use to calculate the approximate time that Jesus was born.

Starting with calculating the time of the year when John the Baptist’s father served in the Temple, we can come up with a Scriptural timeline that ends in the birth of Christ. The following video will break down all of the specific details for you….

Now, it must be noted that it cannot be proven with 100 percent certainty using the Scriptures that Jesus was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, but that seems to be the most logical conclusion when you consider all of the facts.

You see, the truth is that God always does the “big things” on his high holy days. If Jesus was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (which is a High Sabbath), then He would have been circumcised on the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles (which is also a High Sabbath).

In addition, it would better explain why there was no room for Mary and Joseph to stay anywhere. Bethlehem is only about 5 miles from Jerusalem, so the entire area around Jerusalem would have been absolutely packed with visitors who had come in for the festival.

But perhaps the biggest clue is the festival itself. You see, during the Feast of Tabernacles, God had His people live in humble temporary shelters which perfectly foreshadowed how His Son would come into the world some day.

In essence, God had His people go up to Jerusalem (which is about five miles from Bethlehem) every year, at the exact time when His Son would be born and He had them live in humble temporary shelters (“manger scenes” if you will) in order to foreshadow the circumstances of the birth of the Messiah.

For even more videos that show why there is incredibly strong evidence that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, please see the following article: Jesus Was Born During The Feast Of Tabernacles.

So why are Christians still not celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles today?

Why are Christians celebrating “Christmas” instead?

Well, in the centuries following the time of Jesus, there was a tremendous amount of anti-Semitism throughout the Roman Empire.  Jews came to be deeply hated, and anything associated with the Jews was looked down upon.

Christian converts in areas of the Roman Empire outside of Israel started to find it very convenient to forget about anything that looked like “Jewish tradition” and many of them would even openly celebrate the pagan holidays that everyone else was celebrating just to “fit in”.

By the time the Roman Empire legalized Christianity in the 4th century, most of the other religions in the empire were celebrating the birth of their sun gods on December 25th.

Leading up to December 25th in ancient Rome, a festival known as Saturnalia was one of the biggest celebrations of the year. Saturnalia was a festival during which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of their god Saturn. This holiday began on the 17th of December and it would last for an entire week until the 23rd of December.

Saturnalia was typically characterized by gift-giving, feasting, singing and lots and lots of debauchery. The priests of Saturn would carry wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession throughout the pagan Roman temples.

Later on, the Romans also started holding a festival on December 25th called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, which means “the birthday of the unconquered sun.” Basically it was a way for the empire to consolidate all of the December 25th “sun god” birthdays throughout the empire into one holiday.

In the year 350 A.D., Pope Julius I declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on December 25th from then on. There appears to be little doubt that Pope Julius was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans to convert to Catholicism.

However, the new holiday did not really take off with Christians at first. The widespread celebration of December 25th by Christians did not really get going until 378. It was apparently then dropped in 381 and then resurrected in 400.

But the truth is that December 25th was celebrated as the birthday of scores of pagan sun gods long before it was ever associated with Jesus.

As we discussed earlier, the celebration of December 25th goes all the way back to Nimrod (who eventually came to be worshipped as the sun god Baal).

Baal worship spread throughout the known world and provided the basis for all other pagan religions. The following are just some of the pagan sun gods that had “birthdays” on December 25th….

Mithras

Horus

Attis

Dionysus the son of Zeus

Tammuz

Hercules

Osiris

Perseus

Helios

Bacchus

Apollo

Jupiter

Sol Invictus – (The “Unconquered Sun”)

When the Roman Catholics decided to make December 25th a “Christian holiday” in the fourth century, they simply “adopted” a pagan holiday and kept most of the same pagan traditions.

By adopting pagan holidays, the Catholic authorities hoped to make it easier for pagans to turn into “Christians”.  The following is a quote from the 2000 Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 11, page 390….

“During the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in importance and ultimately led to what has been called a ‘solar monotheism.’ Nearly all the gods of the period were possessed of Solar qualities, and both Christ and Mithra acquired the traits of solar deities. The feast of Sol and Victus (open unconquered Sun) on December 25th was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the birthday of Christ.”

Even the “Christmas tree” can be traced back to ancient pagan traditions.  For example, the ancient Babylonian “Christmas tree” came to be seen as a symbol of fertility throughout the ancient world. The pole, balls, and tinsel (phallus, testes, semen) represented various aspects of male fertility, while wreaths were always fashioned in a circle to represent female fertility.

In “The Two Babylons”, Hislop describes some of the ancient traditions surrounding the Christmas tree on page 97….

“The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm-tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the Pagan messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the sun-god and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognized as the ‘Man the branch.’ And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning.”

That sure puts a different spin on Christmas traditions, now doesn’t it?

Most Christians don’t even realize that God warned us about such things in the Bible.

In Jeremiah 10:1-4, God warns us against putting up these decorated trees like the pagans were doing….

Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.”

But we love our “Christmas trees” don’t we?

In the Scriptures, God solemnly warns us not to adopt the practices of those who worship other gods. Deuteronomy 12:29-31 state the following….

The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.”  You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

The Puritans understood this. It comes as a surprise to most Americans to learn that the Puritans once banned Christmas in some areas of the United States because it was considered so pagan.

According to ancient Babylonian tradition, the springtime fertility festival of Ishtar (Easter) was a time when the “Queen of Heaven” was believed to become impregnated. Nine months later the sun god would be “born” or “reborn”.

To the ancient Babylonians, these holiday trees eventually came to be worshipped as the “Queen of Heaven”, and gifts were brought to the “groves” of trees that had been grown in her honor and placed beneath them as offerings.

The Babylonians also used wreaths to represent the nativity of the sun, since they were objects that depicted the “womb” of the Earth mother.

Early Christians completely rejected these traditions. In the 3rd century, Tertullian wrote the following about these pagan celebrations….

“On your day of gladness, we [Christians] neither cover our doorposts with wreaths, nor intrude upon the day with lamps. At the call of public festivity, you consider it a proper thing to decorate your house like some new brothel. We are accused of a lower sacrilege because we do not celebrate along with you the holidays …”

The truth is that the celebration of December 25th and most of the accompanying traditions have always been pagan.

But many Christians will protest and say that it is okay for them to celebrate December 25th because to them it is all about Jesus.

That was the same excuse that Aaron used when he and most of the rest of the people of Israel worshipped the golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain getting the Law of God. Aaron actually said that the worship of the golden calf was being done to the Lord as we read in Exodus 32:5….

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”

But we know how that turned out.

God was not pleased at all.

In fact, He was beyond furious.

In the same way, God is not pleased when we celebrate pagan holidays and keep traditions that have been pagan for thousands of years.

For even more on the pagan origins of Christmas, check out the following YouTube video….

Now, for something that will totally blow your mind….

Earlier we discussed how the celebration of Christmas goes back to an ancient Babylonian ruler named Nimrod.

So exactly who was Nimrod?

Genesis 10:8-12 tells us the following….

Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”  The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar.  From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

Nimrod was basically the first great “world ruler” after the Flood.  According to legend, he married his mother (Semiramis) and after Nimrod’s death Semiramis had a child named Tammuz which was supposedly Nimrod “reborn”.

This story is the original source of the art all over the ancient world that depicts the “goddess” holding the holy child.  For example, the whole mythology of Isis giving birth to Horus after the death of Osiris is a good example of this.

In fact, Osiris is a good example of a “god” that can be traced back to Nimrod.  In Genesis it tells us that Nimrod was the first great ruler of Assyria, which many scholars believe was originally pronounced “Osiria”.

The truth is that virtually all of the male deities of the ancient world can be traced back to Nimrod or his son Tammuz.  In his wonderful article entitled “The Giza Discovery”, author Peter Goodgame explains that the Greek god “Apollo” can also be traced back to Nimrod….

“And just who is this Greek god Apollyon who makes his strange appearance in the book of Revelation? Charles Penglase is an Australian professor who specializes in ancient Greek and Near Eastern religion and mythology. In his book, Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod, Penglase carefully and methodically demonstrates that the Greek myths and legends of Apollo were simply Greek retellings of the Babylonian myths involving the rise to power of the god Marduk, which were themselves based on earlier legends of the Sumerian hunter/hero known as Ninurta. Furthermore, according to David Rohl, the original name for Ninurta was in fact Nimurda, whose historical identity can be traced back to King Enmerkar of Uruk, the very same figure who is known in the Bible as Nimrod.”

From Nimrod and his “son” sprang virtually all of the “gods” of the ancient world – Baal, Apollo, Osiris, Mithras, Adonis, Dionysus, Hercules, Perseus, Helios, Bacchus and Jupiter.

But these “gods” were not just worshipped in ancient times.

The truth is that secret societies throughout the world still worship them today.

In fact, as Tom Horn documented very thoroughly in his excellent book entitled “Apollyon Rising 2012“, many of these secret societies are obsessed with the belief that Apollo/Horus will return one day to head up a New World Order.

Not only that, but the Scriptures seem to tie in Nimrod/Apollo with the Antichrist.

There are many passages in the Old Testament which seem to refer to the Antichrist as “the Assyrian”.  In fact, in Micah 5:5-6, it not only mentions “the Assyrian” but it even calls Assyria “the land of Nimrod”….

And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.  And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

In the book of Revelation, there is a reference to “Apollyon” which is a modified version of “Apollo”.  In Revelation 9:11, it says the following….

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

But isn’t the Antichrist supposed to be someone new?

Not necessarily.

The book of Revelation says that the inhabitants of the earth will be amazed that the person who will be known as the Antichrist has returned. Revelation 17:8-14 tells us the following….

The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.

“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Many Bible scholars are now talking about “the return of the Antichrist” instead of “the coming of the Antichrist”. Many believe that the Antichrist will be tied to Nimrod is some profound way.

So exactly what will that mean?

Nobody knows for sure.

But if the coming Antichrist is going to represent “the return of Nimrod” in some fashion, and if Nimrod’s birthday is December 25th, then those celebrating Christmas may actually be celebrating the birthday of the Antichrist!

Just think about that for a moment.

Someday hundreds of millions of people around the globe may be celebrating “Christmas celebrations” led by the ultimate false Christ – the Antichrist himself.

Do you really want to be celebrating the birthday of Nimrod/Apollo/Osiris?

Do you really think that it is appropriate for Christians to be indulging in deeply pagan practices?  Just because we have slapped the name of “Jesus” on them does that make them okay?

It is time for Christians to wake up and to learn the real history of Christmas.

The truth is that no Christian should be celebrating this deeply pagan holiday.

Up until now you had an excuse because nobody has ever taught you these things.

But now you know.

Most Christians have never learned any of this.  But now is a great time to start learning.  The following are 10 reasons why Rosh Hashanah is a Christian holiday too….

#1 The Feast Of Trumpets Was Created By God

Unlike Easter, Halloween and Christmas (which were all originally pagan holidays that you won’t find in the Bible), the Feast of Trumpets is a holiday which was invented by God.  It was one of the holidays that God commanded His people to keep in Leviticus 23 (among other places) and it has great prophetic significance just like all of the other festivals that God has given to us.

#2 The Feast Of Trumpets Remembers The Creation Of The World

All of God’s festivals are about remembering something and about looking forward to something.  Christians and Jews have traditionally believed that it was on the Feast of Trumpets that God created the world.  Isn’t that something for all of us to celebrate?

#3 The Feast Of Trumpets Is A Memorial Of God’s Grace To Abraham When He Substituted A Ram To Be Sacrificed Instead Of Isaac

All of God’s festivals always point to Jesus.  It is traditionally believed that it was on this day that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son before God intervened and provided a ram instead.  Abraham did not know it at the time, but his actions were foreshadowing the time when God would sacrifice His Son for the good of all humanity.  A shofar is actually a ram’s horn and so the fact that the shofar plays such a key role on the Feast of Trumpets also links the events of Genesis 22 to this day.  We remember when God provided a ram for Abraham and we remember when God provided His Son to pay for the sins of all mankind.

#4 Jesus Celebrated The Feast Of Trumpets

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus was without sin.  He perfectly obeyed the entire Law, and that included keeping the Feast of Trumpets and all of God’s festival days.

#5 Jesus Told Us That We Should Keep The Festivals

In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said that those who keep God’s Law (that includes keeping His festivals) will be called the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven…..

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

#6 The First Christians Celebrated The Feast Of Trumpets

Easter, Christmas and Halloween had not been invented when the first Christians were running around.  Instead, they celebrated the holidays that God invented and that had always been celebrated by believers.  If you go through the book of Acts, you will find many examples of this.  In fact, on the very first festival day after Jesus rose from the dead (Pentecost), God poured out His Holy Spirit on the early disciples.  It was almost as if God was confirming that His festivals were still going to be important in the church age.

#7 God Always Does The “Big Things” On His Festival Days

Jesus was almost certainly born during the Feast of Tabernacles.  Jesus was crucified on Passover while the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.  Jesus rose from the dead on First Fruits.  As noted above, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early apostles during the Feast of Pentecost.  God always does the “big things” on His festival days, so why not celebrate them and be looking forward to what God is going to do next?

#8 The Feast Of Trumpets Is A Prophecy Of The Return Of Jesus Christ

All the Scriptures which describe the return of Jesus Christ for His bride speak of a trumpet.  That is why so many are convinced that the Feast of Trumpets is linked to this event.

For example, consider 1 Corinthians 15:51-52…..

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, once again we see the timing of the return of Christ for his bride coincides with the trumpet call of God…..

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Please notice that once again, the events of Matthew 24:29-31 coincide with the trumpet call of God…..

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Isn’t that amazing?

So why aren’t more churches teaching about it?

#9 The Scriptures Tell Us That The Remnant Of The Last Days Will Celebrate The Festivals

In Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12 we read that the remnant of the last days will have both the testimony of Jesus and will keep the commandments of God.  Already, Christians all over the world are awakening to God’s commandments (including keeping the festivals) and we will see a further revival of these things in the years ahead.

#10 The Scriptures Tell Us That We Will Celebrate God’s Festivals After Jesus Returns

The Scriptures are very clear that we will be keeping God’s festivals after Jesus returns to this earth.  For example, Zechariah chapter 14 tells us that Jesus will require all nations to keep the Feast of Tabernacles after He returns.  At the beginning of Zechariah chapter 14, it describes the return of Jesus to this earth, and then later in that same chapter it describes how Jesus will actually require the whole earth to observe the Feast of Tabernacles once He has established His kingdom.

Zechariah 14:16-19…..

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

So do you have any questions about Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets)?  If so, please leave a comment and we will do our best to answer your question….

You see, when God created the earth, he established that the sun and moon were to be signs to mark seasons and holidays. In Genesis 1:14-16 it says this…..

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

In fact, God created the very first holiday (the Sabbath) when He rested from the work of creation on the seventh day and declared that day to be a holy day in Genesis 2:2-3…..

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Ever since God declared the seventh day of the week to be holy has He ever changed His mind and declared it to be unholy? No, you can’t find that anywhere in the Bible. But that is the subject for another article. Getting back to New Moon, in the Torah the people of Israel were instructed to blow the shofar and offer sacrifices during New Moon in Numbers 10:10…..

“Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”

The Temple has been destroyed and Yahshua (the Lord Jesus Christ) was the final sacrifice for sin, so sacrifices are no longer offered on New Moon, but God still intends for us to keep this holiday.  But we shall get to that in just a bit.

So how are we supposed to treat New Moon?  Well, the truth is that the Scriptures tell us that it is a holy day during which we are not supposed to work or buy or sell as it tells us in Amos 8:4-6…..

Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

In fact, the New Moon celebration was a big deal during King David’s day as it tells us in 1 Samuel 20:5…..

So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow.

In addition, New Moon celebrations were at the forefront of King Solomon’s mind when he described the activities in the Temple that he was about to build for the Lord God.  In 2 Chronicles 2:4 we read this…..

Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on Sabbaths and New Moons and at the appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

Well, that was “Old Testament” stuff that we aren’t supposed to keep today, wasn’t it?

No.

The truth is that Yahshua (the Lord Jesus Christ) kept New Moon when he was on earth, and he instructed us that we are to keep New Moon (along with the rest of God’s Law) in Matthew 5:17-19…..

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Some time when you encounter a Christian who does not think that we are supposed to keep Sabbath or New Moon, show them those verses and ask them to tell you what Jesus is saying.

The truth is that they cannot give you a good answer to that question.

Why?

Because Yahshua (Jesus) always intended for us to keep God’s Law.

Yahshua (Jesus) perfectly kept God’s Law when He was on earth the first time, and the Scriptures tell us that the whole world will keep Sabbath and New Moon after He comes again during the 1000 year reign.

The last chapters of Ezekiel describe the 1000 year reign of Christ, and in Ezekiel 46:1-3 it tells us that Sabbath and New Moon will be celebrated during that time…..

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to that gateway.

In fact, not only will Sabbath and New Moon be kept during the 1000 year reign of Christ, but Isaiah 66:22-23 tells us that Sabbath and New Moon will be celebrated forever even after God creates a new heaven and a new earth…..

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD.

The truth is that long after the New Moon movie is gone and people have totally forgotten about it, people will still be celebrating the New Moon holiday that God instituted thousands of years ago.

You see, the real “New Moon” is found in the Bible – not in movie theaters.  If you do not know about the God of the Bible, we encourage you to check out an article that we posted on another of our websites entitled “How To Know That You Will Go To Heaven” which will tell you exactly how you can have peace with God through Yahshua (Jesus) and live with Him forever.

These are very hard and yet very important questions.  The reality is that Christianity has gotten very much away from the faith of the first Christians, and the vast majority of churchgoers today do not even realize this.

The truth is that the first Christians kept Sabbath, the kept New Moon and they kept the Festivals.  But unfortunately, the leadership of the early church was scattered to the four winds by the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and from that time forward Christianity began to lose it’s Jewish roots. The Jews who had not received Christ as the Messiah went their own way, and Christianity started to become increasingly corrupted by the pagan world of that day, especially after the emperor Constantine legalized (and took much control over) the institutional Christian church in the 4th century.

As Christians, we realize that the majority of the Jews made a grave error by rejecting their Messiah.  Indeed every today, most Jews still do not realize that Yahshua (Jesus) is the Messiah that was promised throughout the Scriptures.

However, the vast majority of Christians do not realize that they are disobeying God’s commands and Christ’s specific instructions by not keeping God’s covenant.

But now, on the very edge of the last days, God is raising up a people who now only have the testimony of Yahshua (Jesus) but who also keep the commandments of God. According to Revelation 12:17 and 14:12, these are the things that will characterize the “remnant” in the last days.

But most Christians react very negatively when you try to tell them this.

After all, they argue, can’t we just ignore the commandments of the “Old Testament” now?

Didn’t Yahshua (Jesus) come to set us free from the curse of the Law?

And the answer is, yes, those who have put their faith in the Messiah are free from “the curse of the Law”.

But what exactly is the curse of the Law?

Was it that God cursed the people of Israel by making them follow the Law?

Was that the curse?

That they had to obey His Law?

That would be saying that the Law is a curse, which would only contradict about 1000 scriptures.

No, the truth is that the curse of the Law was not that the people of Israel had to follow it, but rather the curse was that God has given them this great, wonderful, magnificent Law, but none of them could follow it and therefore the Law made all of them guilty.

You see, that is why the Messiah had to come.

He has to come to pay the penalty for our sins and to free us from that curse.

As the Scriptures say, the Law is a school teacher that brings us to the Messiah.

But Yahshua (Jesus) did not do away with the Law.

Rather, He always intended for us to keep God’s Law.

You don’t believe this?

Just read the words of Yahshua (Jesus) for yourself in Matthew 5:17-19…..

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

You see, the vast majority of the time that He was on earth, Yahshua (Jesus) spoke to the people in puzzles and riddles.

However, there were a few times when He was making a point of such absolute importance that He took the time to very slowly and very clearly explain precisely what He meant.

You will notice in the passage above that He makes the exact same point three times in a row.

In each and every sentence in that passage He very clearly makes the point that His followers are to keep the Law.

In fact, that statement by Yahshua (Jesus) in verse 19 is so absolutely crystal clear that it is amazing that so many of us missed it for so many years.

Is there any other explanation for verse 19 than that we are supposed to keep the Law?

Do you read it differently?

Does it not seem crystal clear?

But what about the apostle Paul?

Did he not preach against the Law?

Actually, no…..he did not.

Rather, the apostle Paul preached very strongly against those who said that Christians had to be circumcised or had to follow certain aspects of the Law in order to be saved.

That is what the whole book of Galatians is all about.  Some teachers had come in to that church and were teaching them that in order to be saved, they not only needed Jesus, but they also had to be circumcised.

Can you imagine those services?

“Come on up and get saved – we’ve got a knife right here and we’ll take care of you today.”

Of course the apostle Paul preached very strongly against that.

That truth is that we are saved through faith in Christ alone, but that does not mean that we throw out all of God’s commandments.

As we will see, the apostle Paul certainly understood this distinction very clearly.

In Romans chapter 3, the apostle Paul tells us very clearly that salvation is through faith in the Messiah apart from the Law:

Romans 3:21-24

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Then later on in Romans chapter 3 the apostle Paul tells us that our faith in Christ in no way nullifies the Law:

Romans 3:31

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

So according to the apostle Paul, does our faith in Christ nullify the Law?

Hopefully you can see that the answer is clearly no.

In fact, if Paul believed that Christians should not follow the Law anymore, then why did he keep the Law even to the last days of his life?

Would that not make him a tremendous hypocrite?

The reality is that Paul and all the other early apostles kept the Law and the book of Acts clearly reveals this fact.

Just consider the following scriptures…..

Acts 21:20-24

When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.

Acts 25:8

Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”

It is also important to keep in mind that Yahshua (Jesus) observed the Law when He was on this earth the first time and the scriptures tell us that the whole world will be observing it after He returns.

Now, if Yahshua (Jesus) intended to do away with the Biblical festivals, then why is He going to be implementing them when He returns?

At the beginning of Zechariah chapter 14, it describes the return of Yahshua (Jesus) to this earth, and then later in that same chapter it describes how Yahshua (Jesus) will REQUIRE the whole earth to observe the Feast of Tabernacles once He has established His kingdom.

Zechariah 14:16-19…..

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

Most Christians do not ever think much about what life will be like during the 1000 year reign of the Messiah.  But the scriptures do actually have quite a bit to say about it.

One of the most neglected parts of the Bible is the end of the book of Ezekiel. In chapters 40 to 48, it actually describe what life will be like when Yahshua (Jesus) comes back and reigns from Jerusalem.

So what will life be like then?

Well, Ezekiel tells us that Sabbath, New Moon and Passover will all be celebrated during the reign of the Messiah.

Just consider these passages…..

Ezekiel 46:1-3

“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to that gateway.”

Ezekiel 45:17

“It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

Ezekiel 45:21

“In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast.”

In addition, the prophet Isaiah tells us that Sabbath and the New Moon will be celebrated forever and ever…..

Isaiah 66:22-23

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. ”

So will the celebration of the Sabbath and the New Moon ever end?

No.

You see, the truth of the matter is that the Lord instituted the Sabbath on the 7th day of creation, and Isaiah tells us that we will be celebrating the Sabbath forever and ever. Nowhere in the scriptures does the Lord ever instruct us that the Sabbath is now to be celebrated on Sunday.

For centuries, most Christians (but not all) were blinded to these things.  But now the Lord God is raising up a people who will not only have the testimony of Yahshua but that will also keep the commandments of God.

The remnant of the last days described in Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12 is truly arising.

But why would that be?

After all, isn’t Passover a “Jewish” holiday and Easter a “Christian” holiday?

Well, that is not really the case.

In fact, the earliest Christians did not celebrate a holiday called “Easter” at all.

Rather, they all celebrated Passover.

Even after the original generation of apostles died off, many of the early church leaders still continued to observe Passover as described in the Torah, but other early church leaders of that next generation slowly started to move the celebration of Passover to Sunday.

In a letter to the head of the church of Rome, Irenaeus mentioned the controversy that took place when Polycarp tried to persuade Anicetus (a previous bishop of Rome) that the celebration of Passover should not be moved to Sunday…..

And when the blessed Polycarp was sojourning in Rome in the time of Anicetus, although a slight controversy had arisen among them as to certain other points, they were at once well inclined towards each other [with regard to the matter in hand], not willing that any quarrel should arise between them upon this head. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp to forego the observance [in his own way], inasmuch as these things had been always [so] observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand, could Polycarp succeed in persuading Anicetusto keep [the observance in his way], for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the presbyters who preceded him. And in this state of affairs they held fellowship with each other; and Anicetus conceded to Polycarp in the Church the celebration of the Eucharist, by way of showing him respect; so that they parted in peace one from the other, maintaining peace withthe whole Church, both those who did observe [this custom] and those who did not.

You see, Polycarp was one of the greatest leaders of the “2nd generation” of the early church. He had been a disciple of the apostle John himself, and Polycarp insisted that the church should continue to celebrate Passover on the 14th day of the Jewish calendar as the apostles had always done.

In fact, the church historian Eusebius wrote that Polycarp observed Passover this way because “he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated” (Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, 1995, pp. 210-211).

After Polycarp, another early church leader named Polycrates argued with Victor, the bishop of Rome, over this same issue.

The following are some excerpts from what Eusebius recorded regarding what Polycrates had to say to Victor:

—–

“There was a considerable discussion raised about this time, in consequence of a difference of opinion respecting the observance of the paschal season. The churches of all Asia, guided by a remoter tradition, supposed that they ought to keep the fourteenth day of the moon for the festival of the Saviour’s passover, in which day the Jews were commanded to kill the paschal lamb”

“The bishops … of Asia, persevering in observing the custom handed down to them from their fathers, were headed by Polycrates. He, indeed, had also set forth the tradition handed down to them, in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome. ‘We,’ said he, ‘therefore, observe the genuine day; neither adding thereto nor taking therefrom. For in Asia great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again the day of the Lord’s appearing, in which he will come with glory from heaven, and will raise up all the saints”

“Moreover, John, who rested upon the bosom of our Lord; … also Polycarpof Smyrna, both bishop and martyr. Thraseas, … Sagaris, … Papirius; and Melito … All these observed the fourteenthday of the passover according to the gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. Moreover, I, Polycrates, who am the least of all of you, according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have followed. For there were seven, my relatives [who were] bishops, andI am the eighth; and my relatives always observed the day when the people (i.e., the Jews) threw away the leaven.

“I, therefore, brethren, am now sixty-five years in the Lord, who having conferred with the brethren throughout the world, and having studied the whole of the sacred Scriptures, am not at all alarmed at those things with which I am threatened, to intimidate me. For they who are greater than I, have said, ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’”

—–

So although there was an effort by the church of Rome to move the celebration of Passover to Sundays, those who were determined on practicing it as the first apostles had could not be moved off of the original observance.

But eventually, during the time of Constantine, the leaders of the institutional church were strong-armed into observing Passover on a Sunday.

Later this celebration came to be known as “Easter”.

But why should Christians celebrate Easter?

After all, when did Yahshua die on the cross? (On the eve of Passover)

When did Yahshua rise from the dead? (On First Fruits During the Feast of Unleavened Bread)

What holiday foreshadowed the sacrifice of the lamb of God for hundreds of years before it happened? (Passover)

So why do Christians celebrate a holiday known as Easter?

In fact, do you even know what the word “Easter” means?

Have you ever wondered where the word Easter originated?

The truth might just shock you.

Many of the old reference books actually contained the truth.

The Britannica Encyclopedia (1934) defined Easter this way:

“EASTER (es’ter). Ostara, or Eastre, was the goddess of Spring in the religion of the ancient Angles andSaxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. With the beginnings of Christianity, the old gods were put aside. From then on the festival was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ, but was still known as Easter after the old goddess.”

So if this is the case, then why do Christians celebrate “Easter”?

Well, the truth is that the story goes back a long way – all the way back to the ancient Middle East.

Perhaps you have heard of “Isis” or “Ishtar” or “Ashtoreth” or “Asherah”.  They are ancient names for the same pagan fertility goddess. In fact, if you trace the various pagan fertility goddesses back far enough, they all trace back to Semiramis of ancient Babylon.

Over time, “Ashtoreth” and “Asherah” became “Ishtar” which eventually became “Eastre” and then finally “Easter”.

Some other names of “Easter” over the centuries included Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus, Astarte from ancient Greece, Demeter from Mycenae, Kali from India and Ostara, a Norse goddess of fertility.

In fact, pagans and Wiccans celebrate a holiday called “Ostara”to this very day.  In fact, “Ostara” was celebrated on March 20th in 2009.

Well what about Easter eggs and Easter bunnies?

Easter “eggs” and Easter bunnies are pagan fertility symbols that celebrate this pagan fertility goddess, and they have been used as symbols for her for thousands of years.

The truth is stunning, eh?

You see, ”Easter” has nothing to do with Yahshua (Jesus).

Yahshua (Jesus) died on the eve of Passover.

In fact, the festival of Passover was a stunning prophetic picture of what would happen to the Messiah.

In the “Old Testament”, God had His people go up to Jerusalem three times per year. One of those times was for Passover.

During the very first Passover, God had the Jews take the blood of a lamb and put it on their doorposts so that the death angel would pass over their houses.

But why the doorposts?

What are doorposts most commonly made of?

Wood.

Where does wood come from?

From a tree.

So the message of that very first Passover was that the blood of the lamb on the tree covers us from the wrath of God.

Does that sound familiar?

It should.

It is the message of the cross – the blood of the lamb on the tree covers us from the wrath of God!

So for centuries upon centuries, God had His people gather in the exact city where Christ would die, at the exact time of the year when He would die, and He had them celebrate a holiday that perfectly foreshadowed the sacrifice of Yahshua (Jesus) the Messiah.

So why have Christians rejected the festival of Passover?

After all, it is a fact that Jesus celebrated Passover.  The Last Supper was actually a Passover meal (just look it up in the Scriptures).

During the Last Supper Jesus said that from now on we were to celebrate that meal in memory of Him.

And all of humanity will celebrate the Passover during the 1000 year reign of Yahshua. If you don’t believe this, just read Ezekiel chapters 45 and 46 which describe what life will be like during the 1000 year reign of the Messiah.

But instead of celebrating Passover, most Christians today celebrate ”Easter” just as ancient civilizations such as the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, and the Philistines did.  In fact, ritual pagan sex acts were often involved with the celebration of “Easter” in ancient times.  That doesn’t sound like much of a Christian holiday.

So why have Christians forsaken a holiday which predicted the sacrifice of Jesus, which is full of symbolism about Jesus, which is during the precise time when Jesus died and rose again and which God tells us in the Scriptures to remember?

Why have Christians instead been celebrating a pagan fertility festival that is named after a pagan fertility goddess and is filled with pagan symbols and traditions?

For more information on the pagan origins of Easter, we would encourage you to check out this YouTube video that we produced…..

We hope that this article has been very eye opening for you.  The reality is that there is a lot more to the holidays that we have been celebrating than we have ever been taught.

Don’t just take “holidays” for granted.  Learn where they came from and why you celebrate them.  Learn what the first Christians did and why they did it.

Perhaps there are reasons why we don’t see the same type of power and miracles that the early Christians did.

Perhaps it is time to try to recapture the faith and practices of those early Christians.

For example, have you ever heard of a story where a heroic supernatural figure visits an evergreen tree on December 25th to leave gifts?

Does that sound familiar?

Does the name Santa Claus ring a bell?

Well, the reality is that it goes back a lot farther than that.

It actually goes all the way back to ancient Babylon.

According to ancient Babylonian tradition, Semiramis (who eventually became known as the goddess Asherah/Ashtoreth/Isis/Ishtar/Easter in other religions) claimed that her son Nimrod had been reincarnated in the form of a full grown evergreen tree that sprang up overnight from a dead tree stump.  Semiramis also claimed that Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts each year on the anniversary of his birth, which just happened to be on December 25th.  Yes, this story seems a bit weird and contradictory, but that is often the case with ancient pagan religions.

Out of this story came the tradition for pagans to go out to the holy “groves” and leave gifts for Nimrod (who was later worshipped as “Baal”) at an evergreen tree.

Does that sound “Christian” to you?

In fact, have you ever wondered where the word Christmas actually comes from?

The word “Christmas” is actually not found anywhere in the Bible.

In fact, the word “Christmas” was not even invented until the Middle Ages.

The Catholic Encyclopedia makes this stunning admission: “The word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038.”

That means that the word “Christmas” did not even exist until more than a thousand years after the death of Yahshua (Jesus).

Yet most American Christians will gather around “the Christmas tree” on December 25th without having any idea why they keep this tradition or where it originally came from. The truth is that the Christmas tree and the decorations that they put on the Christmas tree have ancient roots in pagan fertility traditions.

In ancient times, the goddess Asherah/Ashtoreth was known as the “Queen of Heaven”.  She was worshipped by many ancient civilizations throughout the Middle East.

One of the symbols most closely associated with Asherah/Ashtoreth was a tree. The ancient Canaanites and Phoenicians viewed the tree as a symbol of fertility.

A symbol of male fertility.

This is not a joke.  Sadly this is all very real.

The purpose of the fertility tree in ancient times was to display the symbols of fertility.

The pole, balls, and tinsel (phallus, testes, semen) represented various aspects of male fertility, while wreaths were always made in a circle to represent female fertility.

That sure puts a different spin on things, now doesn’t it?

But isn’t all of this supposed to be “Christian”?

The truth is that the Bible does not say a thing about a “Christmas tree”, but it does warn God’s people against putting up trees like the other pagan nations were doing.

In Jeremiah 10:1-4 we read this:

Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.”

The truth can be shocking, eh?

But most people simply do not know these things.

Most people believe that December 25th first became a holiday when Catholics decided to make that day the celebration of the birth of Christ. But that is simply not true. Long before Christmas was ever invented, December 25th was known as “the birthday of the unconquered sun” and it was celebrated as the birthday of pagan gods such as Baal, Mithras, Attis, Sol, Jupiter, Dionysus and others.

When the Catholics came along and decided to make it a Christian holiday in the fourth century, they simply adopted a pagan holiday and kept many of the same pagan practices.

Another ancient name for the late December holiday is Yule.

Yule is the name of a major pagan holiday that is still celebrated today by huge numbers of people around the world.

In fact, a major U.K. newspaper ran this headline last winter: Ancient Yule festivals lie behind much of our British Christmas.

Yule was celebrated by the pagans of northern Europe from late December through early January for centuries. When you offer “yuletide” greetings you are acknowledging this pagan celebration. Yule logs were traditionally lit to honor the horrible pagan god “Thor”. The holiday would continue until the Yule log burned out, which could take as long as twelve days.  This is where we get the so-called ”12 days of Christmas”. Even an early form of Santa Claus can all be traced back to ancient Yule celebrations.

In fact, pagan, Wiccans and witches still celebrate Yule to this day.  They laugh and laugh at Christians who use the pagan word Yule.  The following was taken from a website on witchcraft:

—–

Birthday of the Twins:

Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) holy day. Birthday of the Twins, Heru Sa Aset and Bast, children of Aset [Isis]. Origin of Yule and Christmas. On Winter Solstice Asar [Osiris] dies. Aset [Isis] with the magick help of Nebt Het [Nephthys] creates a Djed Pillar [artificial penis] for Her husband and impregnates Herself. For three full days (December 22-24) Asar lies dead and the Twins grow in Aset’s belly. On this day (December 25th) the Twins are born, the reincarnation or resurrection of Their Father. The green tree is a symbol of the green-skinned Asar, God of fertility and vegetation. The colored lights are symbols of Aset, Goddess of magick and divine light. Red, green, and white are the traditional candle colors of Bast (this was Her birthday alone for several thousand years of early Kemetic history), later being adapted to red for Aset (the color of the Mother’s menstrual flow), green for Asar (the color of vegetation), and white for the Twins (the color of pure light).

—–

Another one of the pre-Christian pagan festivals of late December was called Saturnalia.

Saturnalia was a holiday during which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of their god Saturn.  This festival began on the 17th of December and it would last for a whole week until the 23rd of December.

Green ivy and holly were common symbols of “Saturn”, the Roman deity.

So why do Christians put them up in their houses?

Later on, the Romans also started holding a festival on December 25th called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, which means “the birthday of the unconquered sun.”  It was held to honor the birth of the sun god.

In the year 350 A.D., Pope Julius I declared that “Christ’s birth” would be celebrated on December 25th from then on.  As we discussed earlier, Christians incorporated many of the previously existing pagan practices and traditions into their new holiday.

Apparently the Pope’s rationale at the time was that he was trying to make it easier for pagan Romans to convert to Christianity.

But the historical Jesus was not born on December 25th.

It simply would have been far too cold for shepherds to be out with their sheep at night during that time.

So when was Jesus actually born.

Well, according to the information we have in the Bible, it appears that it is most likely that He was born during the Feast of Tabernacles.  For more information on this, please refer to this article:

http://shofarhorn.com/archives/was-jesus-born-during-the-feast-of-tabernacles-and-not-on-christmas

For more information on the pagan origins of Christmas, please watch this video we put together on the topic…..

So what does the Bible say about when Yahshua (Jesus) was born?

Well, our research has uncovered some stunning truths about Christmas, and we have presented those findings in a short YouTube video entitled: “Proof That Jesus Christ Was NOT Born On December 25th”. The video is embedded at the end of this post, and we hope that you will watch it and send it to others as well.

Our YouTube video examines the following questions:

*Wouldn’t it have been way too cold for the shepherds to be out with their flocks at night in late December?

*Can we prove from the Scriptures that Yahshua (Jesus) was NOT born during the winter?

*Do the Scriptures give us any information about when Yahshua (Jesus) actually was born?

*Was there a real historical reason why the inns were full when Mary and Joseph were looking for a place to stay?

*Was there a festival that was instituted by the Lord God over a thousand years before Yahshua(Jesus) was born that prophetically foreshadowed the circumstances and timing of His birth?

The truth is that there is a whole lot about the birth of Yahshua (Jesus) that you were never taught in church.

So if Yahshua (Jesus) was not born on December 25th, then why do Christians celebrate that day?

The truth might shock you.

The reality is that there was a late December pagan holiday that was celebrated for centuries before Yahshua(Jesus) was ever born.  This pagan holiday that commemorated the birth of various pagan “gods” was celebrated throughout the Roman Empire in different forms.  In fact, many of the “Christmas traditions” of today can be directly traced to pagan religious practices that pre-date Christ.

The Roman Catholics decided to “christianize” this pagan holiday starting in 336 A.D. and turn it into a celebration of the birth of Christ.  But they also kept many of the same traditions and practices from the pagan festivals.

You can find out much more about the pagan roots of Christmas by watching our other video on this topic entitled “The Christmas Conspiracy: The Pagan Origins Of Christmas”.  If you do not know about these things yet, then it will REALLY open your eyes.

But first, please watch our YouTube video that shows why Yahshua (Jesus) was NOT born on December 25th…..

You see, God almost always does the “big things” on His festival days.  Yahshua (Jesus) was almost certainly born during the Feast of Tabernacles, He was crucified on the eve of Passover when the Passover lambs were also being slaughtered, He rose from the dead on First Fruits and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early apostles during the Feast of Pentecost.

The reality is all of the Biblical festivals are prophetic.  So what is prophetic about Rosh Hashanah and the blowing of the shofar?

Well, we are glad that you asked.

There are several primary scriptures that describe the return of Yahshua (Jesus) to this earth, and in those scriptures a blast from a trumpet repeatedly shows up.

For example, consider 1 Corinthians 15:51-52…..

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

This scripture tells us precisely when the second coming of Jesus will be.

It is marked in red for you.

This passage tells us that the second coming of Jesus will take place at the last trumpet.

So when will that be?

Well, hold on to that for a minute and let’s take a look at the next passage.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, once again we see the timing of the second coming of Christ coincides with the trumpet call of God…..

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

There is that trumpet again.

But just when is this “last trumpet” going to be?

Fortunately, Yahshua (Jesus) gave us the answer to that question. In Matthew chapter 24, Yahshua (Jesus) tells his disciples about many of the events that will occur during the Tribulation period, and then in verses 29 to 31 Jesus describes the moment of His second coming to earth at the end of the Tribulation period.

Please notice that once again, the events of Matthew 24:29-31 coincide with the trumpet call of God…..

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Now, as we saw earlier, the second coming of Yahshua (Jesus) is clearly supposed to take place at the “last trumpet”.

In Matthew 24, Jesus tells us that His final return to this earth will coincide with a great trumpet blast.

Is there any other trumpet blast after that one?

No.

So that is the last trumpet.

The reality is that I Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 are all talking about the exact same event – the second coming of the Messiah to this earth.

So we can clearly see that the scriptures clearly link the return of Yahshua (Jesus) with a trumpet blast.

We have also noted that God almost always does the “big things” on His festival days.

So what do you think the odds are that God will have the return of the Messiah fall on the festival day that has been celebrated by trumpet blasts for thousands of years?

But most Christians and Jews have never been taught to these kinds of depths.

Once certain keys in the Bible are pointed out to you, all kinds of other things begin to open up.

Posted below is a very short YouTube video from a shofar maker from Belgium about how to blow a shofar. If you will apply the basic tips that he gives, then you will be blowing your shofar before you know it…..

Picture Originally uploaded by matthewray

Psalm 98:5-6

make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.