Palestine Betrayed, by Efraim Karsh
BOOK REVIEW
by M. D Roberts
Replete with references the Professor & Head of the Middle East and Mediterranean Studies Programme at Kings College, London has provided an excellent, detailed, objective analysis of both the origins as well as the history surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In my own opinion this authoritative, timely and well written study is destined to become a classic in relation to this contentious subject. Those who have already embraced the revisionist history of the 'new historians' will probably want to give it a miss as the detail and depth of this work tends to blow their case completely out of the water.
Citing many documents which have been declassified over the past decade, both the Arab and Jewish perspectives of this conflict are addressed from the very start. The political/diplomatic manoeuvering of many prominent individuals on both sides and in the international arena are all given due reference.
Recent declassification of millions of documents from the era surrounding the British Mandate are shown to have been ignored or distorted by the 'new historians' in order to paint a picture that the author claims 'is completely at odds with the anti Israel caricature that is so often the order of the day'.
This compelling investigation makes it clear to the reader that Israel is being robbed of its political, historic and geographic legitimacy, whilst being made to appear to rob the Palestinians of the nation it never had.
At the outset the author draws attention to the differing positions of the then Jewish and Arab leadership leading up to the 1947 UN resolution calling for the partition of 'Palestine' into two independent states - Arab and Jewish - plus the internationalisation of Jerusalem.
From the easily readable text the reader can assess how the Jewish leadership openly accepted the detailed UN plans for partition while the Arab side utterly rejected any such plan and showed that compliance with any UN resolution was of no consequence as they declared all out war with the declared intention of eradicating the reborn Jewish state. Full quotes and detailed references from both sides are provided for the reader's attention.
The book reveals in no uncertain terms that if the Palestinian Arabs and the neighbouring Arab states had accepted the UN resolution there would have been no war and no dislocation of a single Arab refugee. The simple reason being that the Zionist movement was amenable to the co-existence with the Palestinian Arabs and a 2 state solution even at that time. The Arab world choosing to instead wage a war of annihilation.
Citing how such reality was to become erased from public memory by decades of relentless pro-Arab propaganda, the writer clarifies that it is to reclaim this and other historical truths that this book has been written.
A whole plethora of issues are addressed including those of a Zionist and Pan Arab perspective covering many decades prior to, and culminating in, the above. The role of the British and the Mandate is studied in some detail revealing much of the alleged British appeasement of the Arab world and it's 'White Paper' restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine while Jews were fleeing the persecution and slaughter within Europe during the rule of Hitler. References revealing how, while Jews were severely restricted and hampering from entering their ancient homeland, no such restrictions were placed upon Arabs entering/settling in 'Palestine' from their neighbouring Arab states.
Having studied the Balfour Declaration one aspect of alleged British appeasement of the Arab world that also receives attention is the British severing of a vast percentage of 'Palestine' east of the Jordan River from the prospective Jewish homeland to create the new Arab nation of Transjordan under the newly appointed Arab leadership of Emir Abdullah ibn Hussein.
Even what remained of 'Palestine' being targeted for division with the 'Palestinian' Arabs. Quotes and references showing that pan-Arabism viewed the 'Palestinians' not as a distinct people deserving statehood but as 'an integral part of a single Arab nation' which was bound by the common ties of language and religion etc.. The Jewish homeland eventually constituting less than 11 per cent of what was originally hoped for. The study's contents reiterating that even this was too much for the Arab world which rejected 'partition' and declared war to obtain it all.
Indeed from the historic details provided the reader is left with the unassailable deduction that the Arab grievance is not with the borders of Israel but with its very existence. Referring to the 'peace process' of the present day the book claims that, despite their vastly different personalities and political modus operandi, Yasser Arafat and his successor Mahmoud Abbas are "warp and woof of the same fabric". Both being shown from the text to be PLO veterans who have never "eschewed their commitment to Israel's destruction".
While many believe that the reason for the continuous state of war between Israel and the Arabs is because Israel is allegedly 'occupying Arab land' the study shows how through endless repetition, the engraving upon people's minds of this line of political propaganda has deceived the populace from the fundamental truths behind this conflict. It clearly being shown that the Arabs were making war against Israel even when the Arabs held the land and that is how they came to lose it in the first place.
Individual readers must make up their own minds upon the many aspects of this investigation, some aspects of which may be seen as controversial by some. However, I have no hesitation to recommending this work to anyone remotely interested in the Middle East conflicts.
6/14/2010
5/27/2010
1948, Israel, and the Palestinians
1948, Israel, and the Palestinians: Annotated Text
EFRAIM KARSH
Excerpt:
Sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the international community; and whose right to exist is constantly debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West.
During the past decade or so, the actual elimination of the Jewish state has become a cause célèbre among many of these educated Westerners. The “one-state solution,” as it is called, is a euphemistic formula proposing the replacement of Israel by a state, theoretically comprising the whole of historic Palestine, in which Jews will be reduced to the status of a permanent minority. Only this, it is said, can expiate the “original sin” of Israel’s founding, an act built (in the words of one critic) “on the ruins of Arab Palestine” and achieved through the deliberate and aggressive dispossession of its native population.
This claim of premeditated dispossession and the consequent creation of the longstanding Palestinian “refugee problem” forms, indeed, the central plank in the bill of particulars pressed by Israel’s alleged victims and their Western supporters. It is a charge that has hardly gone undisputed. As early as the mid-1950’s, the eminent American historian J.C. Hurewitz undertook a systematic refutation,[1] and his findings were abundantly confirmed by later generations of scholars and writers. Even Benny Morris, the most influential of Israel’s revisionist “new historians,” and one who went out of his way to establish the case for Israel’s “original sin,” grudgingly stipulated that there was no “design” to displace the Palestinian Arabs.[2]
The recent declassification of millions of documents from the period of the British Mandate (1920-1948) and Israel’s early days, documents untapped by earlier generations of writers and ignored or distorted by the “new historians,” paint a much more definitive picture of the historical record. They reveal that the claim of dispossession is not only completely unfounded but the inverse of the truth. What follows is based on fresh research into these documents, which contain many facts and data hitherto unreported.
_____________
Far from being the hapless objects of a predatory Zionist assault, it was Palestinian Arab leaders who from the early 1920’s onward, and very much against the wishes of their own constituents, launched a relentless campaign to obliterate the Jewish national revival. This campaign culminated in the violent attempt to abort the UN resolution of November 29, 1947, which called for the establishment of two states in Palestine. Had these leaders, and their counterparts in the neighboring Arab states, accepted the UN resolution, there would have been no war and no dislocation in the first place.
The simple fact is that the Zionist movement had always been amenable to the existence in the future Jewish state of a substantial Arab minority that would participate on an equal footing “throughout all sectors of the country’s public life.”[3] The words are those of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the founding father of the branch of Zionism that was the forebear of today’s Likud party. In a famous 1923 article, Jabotinsky voiced his readiness “to take an oath binding ourselves and our descendants that we shall never do anything contrary to the principle of equal rights, and that we shall never try to eject anyone.”[4]
Eleven years later, Jabotinsky presided over the drafting of a constitution for Jewish Palestine. According to its provisions, Arabs and Jews were to share both the prerogatives and the duties of statehood, including most notably military and civil service. Hebrew and Arabic were to enjoy the same legal standing, and “in every cabinet where the prime minister is a Jew, the vice-premiership shall be offered to an Arab and vice-versa.”[5]
If this was the position of the more “militant” faction of the Jewish national movement, mainstream Zionism not only took for granted the full equality of the Arab minority in the future Jewish state but went out of its way to foster Arab-Jewish coexistence. In January 1919, Chaim Weizmann, then the upcoming leader of the Zionist movement, reached a peace-and-cooperation agreement with the Hashemite emir Faisal ibn Hussein, the effective leader of the nascent pan-Arab movement. From then until the proclamation of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, Zionist spokesmen held hundreds of meetings with Arab leaders at all levels. These included Abdullah ibn Hussein, Faisal’s elder brother and founder of the emirate of Transjordan (later the kingdom of Jordan), incumbent and former prime ministers in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq, senior advisers of King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (founder of Saudi Arabia), and Palestinian Arab elites of all hues.
As late as September 15, 1947, two months before the passing of the UN partition resolution, two senior Zionist envoys were still seeking to convince Abdel Rahman Azzam, the Arab League’s secretary-general, that the Palestine conflict “was uselessly absorbing the best energies of the Arab League,” and that both Arabs and Jews would greatly benefit “from active policies of cooperation and development.”6 Behind this proposition lay an age-old Zionist hope: that the material progress resulting from Jewish settlement of Palestine would ease the path for the local Arab populace to become permanently reconciled, if not positively well disposed, to the project of Jewish national self-determination. As David Ben-Gurion, soon to become Israel’s first prime minister, argued in December 1947:
If the Arab citizen will feel at home in our state, . . . if the state will help him in a truthful and dedicated way to reach the economic, social, and cultural level of the Jewish community, then Arab distrust will accordingly subside and a bridge will be built to a Semitic, Jewish-Arab alliance.[7]
_____________
On the face of it, Ben-Gurion’s hope rested on reasonable grounds. An inflow of Jewish immigrants and capital after World War I had revived Palestine’s hitherto static condition and raised the standard of living of its Arab inhabitants well above that in the neighboring Arab states. The expansion of Arab industry and agriculture, especially in the field of citrus growing, was largely financed by the capital thus obtained, and Jewish know-how did much to improve Arab cultivation. In the two decades between the world wars, Arab-owned citrus plantations grew sixfold, as did vegetable-growing lands, while the number of olive groves quadrupled.[8]
No less remarkable were the advances in social welfare. Perhaps most significantly, mortality rates in the Muslim population dropped sharply and life expectancy rose from 37.5 years in 1926-27 to 50 in 1942-44 (compared with 33 in Egypt). The rate of natural increase leapt upward by a third.[9]
That nothing remotely akin to this was taking place in the neighboring British-ruled Arab countries, not to mention India, can be explained only by the decisive Jewish contribution to Mandate Palestine’s socioeconomic well-being. The British authorities acknowledged as much in a 1937 report by a commission of inquiry headed by Lord Peel:
The general beneficent effect of Jewish immigration on Arab welfare is illustrated by the fact that the increase in the Arab population is most marked in urban areas affected by Jewish development. A comparison of the census returns in 1922 and 1931 shows that, six years ago, the increase percent in Haifa was 86, in Jaffa 62, in Jerusalem 37, while in purely Arab towns such as Nablus and Hebron it was only 7, and at Gaza there was a decrease of 2 percent.[10]
Had the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs been left to their own devices, they would most probably have been content to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them. This is evidenced by the fact that, throughout the Mandate era, periods of peaceful coexistence far exceeded those of violent eruptions, and the latter were the work of only a small fraction of Palestinian Arabs.[11] Unfortunately for both Arabs and Jews, however, the hopes and wishes of ordinary people were not taken into account, as they rarely are in authoritarian communities hostile to the notions of civil society or liberal democracy.
------
More at:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/1948--israel--and-the-palestinians--annotated-text-11373
or click on title of post
EFRAIM KARSH
Excerpt:
Sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the international community; and whose right to exist is constantly debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West.
During the past decade or so, the actual elimination of the Jewish state has become a cause célèbre among many of these educated Westerners. The “one-state solution,” as it is called, is a euphemistic formula proposing the replacement of Israel by a state, theoretically comprising the whole of historic Palestine, in which Jews will be reduced to the status of a permanent minority. Only this, it is said, can expiate the “original sin” of Israel’s founding, an act built (in the words of one critic) “on the ruins of Arab Palestine” and achieved through the deliberate and aggressive dispossession of its native population.
This claim of premeditated dispossession and the consequent creation of the longstanding Palestinian “refugee problem” forms, indeed, the central plank in the bill of particulars pressed by Israel’s alleged victims and their Western supporters. It is a charge that has hardly gone undisputed. As early as the mid-1950’s, the eminent American historian J.C. Hurewitz undertook a systematic refutation,[1] and his findings were abundantly confirmed by later generations of scholars and writers. Even Benny Morris, the most influential of Israel’s revisionist “new historians,” and one who went out of his way to establish the case for Israel’s “original sin,” grudgingly stipulated that there was no “design” to displace the Palestinian Arabs.[2]
The recent declassification of millions of documents from the period of the British Mandate (1920-1948) and Israel’s early days, documents untapped by earlier generations of writers and ignored or distorted by the “new historians,” paint a much more definitive picture of the historical record. They reveal that the claim of dispossession is not only completely unfounded but the inverse of the truth. What follows is based on fresh research into these documents, which contain many facts and data hitherto unreported.
_____________
Far from being the hapless objects of a predatory Zionist assault, it was Palestinian Arab leaders who from the early 1920’s onward, and very much against the wishes of their own constituents, launched a relentless campaign to obliterate the Jewish national revival. This campaign culminated in the violent attempt to abort the UN resolution of November 29, 1947, which called for the establishment of two states in Palestine. Had these leaders, and their counterparts in the neighboring Arab states, accepted the UN resolution, there would have been no war and no dislocation in the first place.
The simple fact is that the Zionist movement had always been amenable to the existence in the future Jewish state of a substantial Arab minority that would participate on an equal footing “throughout all sectors of the country’s public life.”[3] The words are those of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the founding father of the branch of Zionism that was the forebear of today’s Likud party. In a famous 1923 article, Jabotinsky voiced his readiness “to take an oath binding ourselves and our descendants that we shall never do anything contrary to the principle of equal rights, and that we shall never try to eject anyone.”[4]
Eleven years later, Jabotinsky presided over the drafting of a constitution for Jewish Palestine. According to its provisions, Arabs and Jews were to share both the prerogatives and the duties of statehood, including most notably military and civil service. Hebrew and Arabic were to enjoy the same legal standing, and “in every cabinet where the prime minister is a Jew, the vice-premiership shall be offered to an Arab and vice-versa.”[5]
If this was the position of the more “militant” faction of the Jewish national movement, mainstream Zionism not only took for granted the full equality of the Arab minority in the future Jewish state but went out of its way to foster Arab-Jewish coexistence. In January 1919, Chaim Weizmann, then the upcoming leader of the Zionist movement, reached a peace-and-cooperation agreement with the Hashemite emir Faisal ibn Hussein, the effective leader of the nascent pan-Arab movement. From then until the proclamation of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, Zionist spokesmen held hundreds of meetings with Arab leaders at all levels. These included Abdullah ibn Hussein, Faisal’s elder brother and founder of the emirate of Transjordan (later the kingdom of Jordan), incumbent and former prime ministers in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq, senior advisers of King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (founder of Saudi Arabia), and Palestinian Arab elites of all hues.
As late as September 15, 1947, two months before the passing of the UN partition resolution, two senior Zionist envoys were still seeking to convince Abdel Rahman Azzam, the Arab League’s secretary-general, that the Palestine conflict “was uselessly absorbing the best energies of the Arab League,” and that both Arabs and Jews would greatly benefit “from active policies of cooperation and development.”6 Behind this proposition lay an age-old Zionist hope: that the material progress resulting from Jewish settlement of Palestine would ease the path for the local Arab populace to become permanently reconciled, if not positively well disposed, to the project of Jewish national self-determination. As David Ben-Gurion, soon to become Israel’s first prime minister, argued in December 1947:
If the Arab citizen will feel at home in our state, . . . if the state will help him in a truthful and dedicated way to reach the economic, social, and cultural level of the Jewish community, then Arab distrust will accordingly subside and a bridge will be built to a Semitic, Jewish-Arab alliance.[7]
_____________
On the face of it, Ben-Gurion’s hope rested on reasonable grounds. An inflow of Jewish immigrants and capital after World War I had revived Palestine’s hitherto static condition and raised the standard of living of its Arab inhabitants well above that in the neighboring Arab states. The expansion of Arab industry and agriculture, especially in the field of citrus growing, was largely financed by the capital thus obtained, and Jewish know-how did much to improve Arab cultivation. In the two decades between the world wars, Arab-owned citrus plantations grew sixfold, as did vegetable-growing lands, while the number of olive groves quadrupled.[8]
No less remarkable were the advances in social welfare. Perhaps most significantly, mortality rates in the Muslim population dropped sharply and life expectancy rose from 37.5 years in 1926-27 to 50 in 1942-44 (compared with 33 in Egypt). The rate of natural increase leapt upward by a third.[9]
That nothing remotely akin to this was taking place in the neighboring British-ruled Arab countries, not to mention India, can be explained only by the decisive Jewish contribution to Mandate Palestine’s socioeconomic well-being. The British authorities acknowledged as much in a 1937 report by a commission of inquiry headed by Lord Peel:
The general beneficent effect of Jewish immigration on Arab welfare is illustrated by the fact that the increase in the Arab population is most marked in urban areas affected by Jewish development. A comparison of the census returns in 1922 and 1931 shows that, six years ago, the increase percent in Haifa was 86, in Jaffa 62, in Jerusalem 37, while in purely Arab towns such as Nablus and Hebron it was only 7, and at Gaza there was a decrease of 2 percent.[10]
Had the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs been left to their own devices, they would most probably have been content to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them. This is evidenced by the fact that, throughout the Mandate era, periods of peaceful coexistence far exceeded those of violent eruptions, and the latter were the work of only a small fraction of Palestinian Arabs.[11] Unfortunately for both Arabs and Jews, however, the hopes and wishes of ordinary people were not taken into account, as they rarely are in authoritarian communities hostile to the notions of civil society or liberal democracy.
------
More at:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/1948--israel--and-the-palestinians--annotated-text-11373
or click on title of post
5/16/2010
Community Markers II (Love)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2006
Community Markers II (Love)
by PeterS (Tzuriel)
Love
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another
(John 13:34-35)
…Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
(I John 3:18)
Yeshua through His suffering of the greatest cosmic injustice conceivable—the Creator suffering and dying on our behalf—expressed unprecedented love to the fallen and feeble. Through His example the love of God was spoken not as a word, nor in tongue but as the living and dying Word of God. In light of the vicarious death of Yeshua, the mitswah to love our neighbor finds its most profound example. Yeshua states, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
How is this love to inform our living or our application of Torah (viz, halakhah)? It is immediately apparent that Yeshua intended to challenge the ethnocentric or even covenantalistic paradigms of love displayed among His people. In Luke 10:29, Yeshua is asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Yeshua clearly demonstrates through the example of the Good Samaritan that the love expressed in Torah was not bubbled. The bubbles of His people included those of Judaic and/or sectarian identity. Today these bubbles are our immediate cultures and congregations. Rather than bubbled love, Yeshua desires effervescent love. Effervescent love bubbles over—it overflows as the living waters (mayim chayim) of the Spirit.
Yeshua’s example of love provides a paradigm that must inform our Torah observance. In community, it is easy to love one another’s virtues, but we must also accept each others’ vices. The apostle Peter states, “And above all things have fervent love among yourselves; for love shall cover the multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8). This is love expressed by tolerance and grace. Tolerance must be exhibited for the disappointments and variegations in observance and doctrine in our communities. Such love, though, does not sugar coat sins of willful rebellion, but it allows grace to garnish growth.
Paul states, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil 2:3-4). Another expression of love is to put aside our pursuit of significance and esteem in order to esteem others. How beautiful is this?
Yeshua’s love is illustrated also in His observance of Shabbat. Rather than allowing the priority of Shabbat to limit His ministry on Shabbat, Yeshua used the occasion of Shabbat to perform some of His most dramatic illustrations of love vis-à-vis Torah observance. On Shabbat Yeshua was willing to perform work (“melakhah”) in order to show love and redemption to His neighbor. Redemptive or restorative love must inspire our observance of Shabbat. To ignore Yeshua’s example risks denigrating Shabbat into a day of restrictive taboos where redemptive action is excused for the sake of inactive piety.
By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another...
Community Markers II (Love)
by PeterS (Tzuriel)
Love
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another
(John 13:34-35)
…Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
(I John 3:18)
Yeshua through His suffering of the greatest cosmic injustice conceivable—the Creator suffering and dying on our behalf—expressed unprecedented love to the fallen and feeble. Through His example the love of God was spoken not as a word, nor in tongue but as the living and dying Word of God. In light of the vicarious death of Yeshua, the mitswah to love our neighbor finds its most profound example. Yeshua states, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
How is this love to inform our living or our application of Torah (viz, halakhah)? It is immediately apparent that Yeshua intended to challenge the ethnocentric or even covenantalistic paradigms of love displayed among His people. In Luke 10:29, Yeshua is asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Yeshua clearly demonstrates through the example of the Good Samaritan that the love expressed in Torah was not bubbled. The bubbles of His people included those of Judaic and/or sectarian identity. Today these bubbles are our immediate cultures and congregations. Rather than bubbled love, Yeshua desires effervescent love. Effervescent love bubbles over—it overflows as the living waters (mayim chayim) of the Spirit.
Yeshua’s example of love provides a paradigm that must inform our Torah observance. In community, it is easy to love one another’s virtues, but we must also accept each others’ vices. The apostle Peter states, “And above all things have fervent love among yourselves; for love shall cover the multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8). This is love expressed by tolerance and grace. Tolerance must be exhibited for the disappointments and variegations in observance and doctrine in our communities. Such love, though, does not sugar coat sins of willful rebellion, but it allows grace to garnish growth.
Paul states, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil 2:3-4). Another expression of love is to put aside our pursuit of significance and esteem in order to esteem others. How beautiful is this?
Yeshua’s love is illustrated also in His observance of Shabbat. Rather than allowing the priority of Shabbat to limit His ministry on Shabbat, Yeshua used the occasion of Shabbat to perform some of His most dramatic illustrations of love vis-à-vis Torah observance. On Shabbat Yeshua was willing to perform work (“melakhah”) in order to show love and redemption to His neighbor. Redemptive or restorative love must inspire our observance of Shabbat. To ignore Yeshua’s example risks denigrating Shabbat into a day of restrictive taboos where redemptive action is excused for the sake of inactive piety.
By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another...
1/26/2010
Isolation Blues
[I posted this at TR Forum this morning and got one response so far.......someone who said he has been pondering the same thoughts. I wonder how many like-minded isolated sheep are out here in cyberspace. May the LORD provide cyber-shepherds to gather and guide us in these apostate times we live in. The narrow path gets lonely sometimes.]
Path of Sanctification
Class Audio 12 talked about the path of sanctification and how we need community to grow spiritually. We need the "sandpaper" of interacting with others in real life fellowship. This is not optional, Tim says. We must make the effort to gather with others locally, or move elsewhere to find like-minded community if necessary.
I find myself in a quandary.....and I wonder if I speak for others who read these posts but do not post themselves for various reasons.
Does not the Bible talk about the Remnant being a small, persecuted minority? "I will take one of a city, two of a family, and bring them to Zion..." (Jer. 3:14)
Isolation seems to be a fixture in the End Times. Tim talks about having a generational perspective......that we need to form communities that will pass our faith along to the next generation. Other Messianic teachers I read online talk about what the Messianic Movement will look like in coming decades or in the next hundred years, and how we are a young movement, which explains our difficulties.
Huh?!
I seem to be on a somewhat different wavelength and wonder if others share my view.
My mindset seems to be to somehow manage to hold on to my faith while all around me Christians and Messianics are dropping like flies.......becoming Agnostics, Atheists, Anglicans, Catholics, Buddhists, Presbyterians, Deity-denying Jews, Noachides, apostates of every shade and nuance. We now have the phenomenon of Atheists becoming Episcopalians and "embracing the myth" for social and professional reasons. Others, while embracing Evolution, and taking a far left, liberal view politically and Scripturally, are going back to churches.......and finding quite a bit of likemindedness there in this post-modern world we live in.
Meanwhile, we can't find very many Messianics that agree with one another enough to fellowship together peaceably for any length of time without "breaking up" and moving on. Some have moved to another state for "community" only to find the turmoil intolerable and could not stay in the fellowship.
What a mess! I finally understand why they call it the MESSianic movement.
Something is wrong with this picture.
I just want to be able to meet the LORD when He comes and have Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." I expect the Second Coming to happen in my lifetime if I live to be 85 or so. I do not expect another 100 years to go by without His Return. 2000 years from His death, resurrection, and ascension is about the year 2034. Is this not the "two days" mentioned in prophetic Scripture? It seems like many have given up expecting Him after the year 2000 came and went and date-setters were proven wrong. Yet they were counting from His birth, rather than His death! I always wondered why Yeshua taught that the End Times would be marked by people going about their day to day business and not understanding the times in which they lived and not being prepared. Now I do......as I see this happening. Most seem oblivious to His soon return. It is not talked about much in Messianic circles, and mocked when brought up. Meanwhile tribulation, wars, earthquakes, sorrows, plagues are happening before our eyes.........and we attribute them solely to natural causes.
There is growing anti-Semitism and hostility against Israel. Churches are taking a pro-Palestinian stance. Messianics and Jews are becoming Anti-Zionist, believing Israel has no right to exist as a nation! Israel is called "apartheid, racist, evil" etc. I am called an "ignorant racist" for supporting Israel.
My point........sorry to go on and on............is that many of us out here in cyberspace are in need of guidance, shepherding, oversight, support, teaching, fellowship in our unavoidable present circumstances of isolation. We are hanging by a thread over the precipice of apostasy. Satan, as a roaring lion, seeks to devour us.
What will become of us?
We want to be ready to face the challenging times in our immediate future. We don't want to fall away from our most precious faith. Our children, grandchildren, friends, spouses have already departed from the faith or become lukewarm, or have no interest in Torah. Our only option for local fellowship seems to be to go back to the antinomian churches and pass on the pork at the potluck, spit out the bones of the dispensational teaching, and try to find some semblance of human comfort and spiritual support.
I don't know what the answer is.....or what I expect Tim to do about it as one man who is doing all he can, and more than most, to nourish us.
When this class ends, will this forum continue? Will anyone chat with one another any place? Or will we all go our separate ways once again and try to hang on somehow.
Sorry for rambling on.......
Thanks for listening.
Shalom,
Maureen
Path of Sanctification
Class Audio 12 talked about the path of sanctification and how we need community to grow spiritually. We need the "sandpaper" of interacting with others in real life fellowship. This is not optional, Tim says. We must make the effort to gather with others locally, or move elsewhere to find like-minded community if necessary.
I find myself in a quandary.....and I wonder if I speak for others who read these posts but do not post themselves for various reasons.
Does not the Bible talk about the Remnant being a small, persecuted minority? "I will take one of a city, two of a family, and bring them to Zion..." (Jer. 3:14)
Isolation seems to be a fixture in the End Times. Tim talks about having a generational perspective......that we need to form communities that will pass our faith along to the next generation. Other Messianic teachers I read online talk about what the Messianic Movement will look like in coming decades or in the next hundred years, and how we are a young movement, which explains our difficulties.
Huh?!
I seem to be on a somewhat different wavelength and wonder if others share my view.
My mindset seems to be to somehow manage to hold on to my faith while all around me Christians and Messianics are dropping like flies.......becoming Agnostics, Atheists, Anglicans, Catholics, Buddhists, Presbyterians, Deity-denying Jews, Noachides, apostates of every shade and nuance. We now have the phenomenon of Atheists becoming Episcopalians and "embracing the myth" for social and professional reasons. Others, while embracing Evolution, and taking a far left, liberal view politically and Scripturally, are going back to churches.......and finding quite a bit of likemindedness there in this post-modern world we live in.
Meanwhile, we can't find very many Messianics that agree with one another enough to fellowship together peaceably for any length of time without "breaking up" and moving on. Some have moved to another state for "community" only to find the turmoil intolerable and could not stay in the fellowship.
What a mess! I finally understand why they call it the MESSianic movement.
Something is wrong with this picture.
I just want to be able to meet the LORD when He comes and have Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." I expect the Second Coming to happen in my lifetime if I live to be 85 or so. I do not expect another 100 years to go by without His Return. 2000 years from His death, resurrection, and ascension is about the year 2034. Is this not the "two days" mentioned in prophetic Scripture? It seems like many have given up expecting Him after the year 2000 came and went and date-setters were proven wrong. Yet they were counting from His birth, rather than His death! I always wondered why Yeshua taught that the End Times would be marked by people going about their day to day business and not understanding the times in which they lived and not being prepared. Now I do......as I see this happening. Most seem oblivious to His soon return. It is not talked about much in Messianic circles, and mocked when brought up. Meanwhile tribulation, wars, earthquakes, sorrows, plagues are happening before our eyes.........and we attribute them solely to natural causes.
There is growing anti-Semitism and hostility against Israel. Churches are taking a pro-Palestinian stance. Messianics and Jews are becoming Anti-Zionist, believing Israel has no right to exist as a nation! Israel is called "apartheid, racist, evil" etc. I am called an "ignorant racist" for supporting Israel.
My point........sorry to go on and on............is that many of us out here in cyberspace are in need of guidance, shepherding, oversight, support, teaching, fellowship in our unavoidable present circumstances of isolation. We are hanging by a thread over the precipice of apostasy. Satan, as a roaring lion, seeks to devour us.
What will become of us?
We want to be ready to face the challenging times in our immediate future. We don't want to fall away from our most precious faith. Our children, grandchildren, friends, spouses have already departed from the faith or become lukewarm, or have no interest in Torah. Our only option for local fellowship seems to be to go back to the antinomian churches and pass on the pork at the potluck, spit out the bones of the dispensational teaching, and try to find some semblance of human comfort and spiritual support.
I don't know what the answer is.....or what I expect Tim to do about it as one man who is doing all he can, and more than most, to nourish us.
When this class ends, will this forum continue? Will anyone chat with one another any place? Or will we all go our separate ways once again and try to hang on somehow.
Sorry for rambling on.......
Thanks for listening.
Shalom,
Maureen
12/15/2009
Remembering Ariel
Chore Time
Non-fiction writing assignment
Institute of Children’s Literature
Submitted 1/18/99
[The object of this writing assignment was to learn to be observant of details and to use dialogue. I am very glad I completed this assignment and noted all these details that bring the memory of this day back to me in vivid colors. Word pictures mean more to me than snapshots with a camera.]
With an inquisitive look, Ariel responds to my movements across the room. “Where are you going?” she seems to be saying. “If you’re going outside, I hope you’ll take me with you.” As I reach for my raggedy blue barn coat and cobweb-laced acrylic hat, Ari paces back and forth. She tries a pleading look, then a long stretch and bow. Gutteral sounds are emitted. “Let’s go, let’s go.” Tail wagging, she knows she’s making her point. She touches me with her wet nose. “Ouch! Static electricity,” I exclaim. I’ve still got to pull on the green barn boots, so Ari lays down with front legs extended. Her haunches are ready to spring when I give the word. “OK, Ari, let’s go.” In a split second she’s on her feet.
Out into the frozen tundra we venture with a bucket of warm water for the shivering goats in the barn. The blizzard has ended, depositing eighteen inches of dazzling white snow, but the temperature has plummeted to zero or below. “Good thing Daddy shoveled us a path, Ari. These drifts would be over your head.” The rosy-cheeked man leaning wearily on a shovel smiles broadly, then gruffly quips, “You may be a b _ _ _ _ but I’m not a dog’s daddy!”
“C’mon, Ari, let’s get to the barn fast. It’s cold out here and you’re shivering too.” Leaping and bounding through the snow, ears flopping, the playful poodle ignores the path. With a sneeze and a patch of soft white snow on her coal black nose, she finally makes it to the shelter of the milk room. “Stay, Ari. I’ll be right back. I don’t want you in the barn with the cats, chickens, and goats.” The barn cats are purring, snuggled together for warmth, one face burrowed into the fur of the other. The goats appreciate the warm water on this frigid winter morning. I toss more bright yellow straw all over the goat pen for added warmth.
Chores accomplished, Ari greets me for the return trek to the house. This time she trots along the narrow path. The snow squeaks under my rubber boots. “Brrr, it’s cold.” A toasty warm kitchen greets us. The aroma of fresh coffee delights my senses. Off comes the coat, hat, gloves, boots. I’m ready for a cup of java, but Ari appears to want something too. There’s that pleading look again. “What now?”
“Er ruh, errr ruh,” comes the insistent request.
“Do you want a biscuit?”
“ER RUH,” comes the louder reply, tail wagging furiously.
“What can you do for it,” I tease. A rather runty-sized but appealing standard poodle, Ariel sits up like a trained circus performer. “Oh, what a pretty girl!” I exclaim, lavishing praise as I release the crunchy biscuit. In a moment the treat is devoured. Ari sniffs the carpet for one last missed morsel. Satisfied, she laps up some water from her bowl and scoots upstairs for nappy time – on my bed of course. How can I kick her off; she looks so comfy curled up by my pillow. Well, maybe I’ll join her for a few minutes and snuggle. Ari gently licks my nose affectionately, then my hands get a tongue bath. Her dark eyes express loyalty and devotion. I notice her wiry black coat looks pretty scruffy. “C’mon, Ari, we’ve got work to do.”
Grooming is quite a chore with poodles. Clippers are a necessity, along with a slicker brush and metal comb. But the rewards are worth the hassle. The standard poodle is an elegant, intelligent, protective, affectionate, personable pet. And they don’t come any sweeter than my sweet, sweet Ariel – companion dog extraordinaire.
--------------
[This was written ten years ago when Ari was 6 years old. She died on December 13, 2009 at the age of 16]
Non-fiction writing assignment
Institute of Children’s Literature
Submitted 1/18/99
[The object of this writing assignment was to learn to be observant of details and to use dialogue. I am very glad I completed this assignment and noted all these details that bring the memory of this day back to me in vivid colors. Word pictures mean more to me than snapshots with a camera.]
With an inquisitive look, Ariel responds to my movements across the room. “Where are you going?” she seems to be saying. “If you’re going outside, I hope you’ll take me with you.” As I reach for my raggedy blue barn coat and cobweb-laced acrylic hat, Ari paces back and forth. She tries a pleading look, then a long stretch and bow. Gutteral sounds are emitted. “Let’s go, let’s go.” Tail wagging, she knows she’s making her point. She touches me with her wet nose. “Ouch! Static electricity,” I exclaim. I’ve still got to pull on the green barn boots, so Ari lays down with front legs extended. Her haunches are ready to spring when I give the word. “OK, Ari, let’s go.” In a split second she’s on her feet.
Out into the frozen tundra we venture with a bucket of warm water for the shivering goats in the barn. The blizzard has ended, depositing eighteen inches of dazzling white snow, but the temperature has plummeted to zero or below. “Good thing Daddy shoveled us a path, Ari. These drifts would be over your head.” The rosy-cheeked man leaning wearily on a shovel smiles broadly, then gruffly quips, “You may be a b _ _ _ _ but I’m not a dog’s daddy!”
“C’mon, Ari, let’s get to the barn fast. It’s cold out here and you’re shivering too.” Leaping and bounding through the snow, ears flopping, the playful poodle ignores the path. With a sneeze and a patch of soft white snow on her coal black nose, she finally makes it to the shelter of the milk room. “Stay, Ari. I’ll be right back. I don’t want you in the barn with the cats, chickens, and goats.” The barn cats are purring, snuggled together for warmth, one face burrowed into the fur of the other. The goats appreciate the warm water on this frigid winter morning. I toss more bright yellow straw all over the goat pen for added warmth.
Chores accomplished, Ari greets me for the return trek to the house. This time she trots along the narrow path. The snow squeaks under my rubber boots. “Brrr, it’s cold.” A toasty warm kitchen greets us. The aroma of fresh coffee delights my senses. Off comes the coat, hat, gloves, boots. I’m ready for a cup of java, but Ari appears to want something too. There’s that pleading look again. “What now?”
“Er ruh, errr ruh,” comes the insistent request.
“Do you want a biscuit?”
“ER RUH,” comes the louder reply, tail wagging furiously.
“What can you do for it,” I tease. A rather runty-sized but appealing standard poodle, Ariel sits up like a trained circus performer. “Oh, what a pretty girl!” I exclaim, lavishing praise as I release the crunchy biscuit. In a moment the treat is devoured. Ari sniffs the carpet for one last missed morsel. Satisfied, she laps up some water from her bowl and scoots upstairs for nappy time – on my bed of course. How can I kick her off; she looks so comfy curled up by my pillow. Well, maybe I’ll join her for a few minutes and snuggle. Ari gently licks my nose affectionately, then my hands get a tongue bath. Her dark eyes express loyalty and devotion. I notice her wiry black coat looks pretty scruffy. “C’mon, Ari, we’ve got work to do.”
Grooming is quite a chore with poodles. Clippers are a necessity, along with a slicker brush and metal comb. But the rewards are worth the hassle. The standard poodle is an elegant, intelligent, protective, affectionate, personable pet. And they don’t come any sweeter than my sweet, sweet Ariel – companion dog extraordinaire.
--------------
[This was written ten years ago when Ari was 6 years old. She died on December 13, 2009 at the age of 16]
11/29/2009
Why We Don't Celebrate Christmas
WHY WE DON’T CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS
Patrick and Maureen LaFaive
(MOSS PATCH NEWSLETTER, Vol. 2, No. 7, November 1991)
As Christians, we gave up Christmas seven years ago when we became aware of the pagan roots of this celebration and diligently searched the Scriptures to see what the Bible had to say about it.
We learned that Christmas is essentially a pagan holiday with a thin Christian veneer. Jesus was not born on December 25th, but the pagans celebrated the Birth of the Unconquered Sun (Saturnalia) at this precise time of year, worshipping their gods with trees, yule logs, wassail, holly, mistletoe, and all the trimmings, right down to the Christmas goose. To make a long story short, in order to bring unconverted pagans into the Roman Catholic church long, long ago, the Church met them half way—letting them keep the pagan feasts that they enjoyed so much, and just “Christianizing” them. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea to Christianize paganism until it is discovered that the Word of God specifically forbids it over and over again throughout the Bible.
For example:
“Learn not the way of the heathen...for the customs of the people are vain...” (Jeremiah 10:2,3).
“Take heed...that thou inquire not after their gods saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.” (Deut. 12:30)
“...Abstain from pollutions of idols” (Acts 15:20).
As Alexander Hislop brings out in The Two Babylons, “The tendency on the part of Christians to meet paganism half way was very early developed. Tertullian, about the year 230, bitterly lamented the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect and contrasted it with the strict fidelity of the pagans to their own superstition:
‘By us, says he, ‘who are strangers to (Jewish) Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia are now frequented, gifts are carried to and fro, new year’s day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; oh how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians.’”
Charles Halff, of the Christian Jew Foundation, in his booklet, “The Truth About Christmas” reports:
“The pagan history of Christmas has been well known throughout history. In fact, at one time the celebration of this pagan custom was forbidden by law in England. In 1644, Parliament declared Christmas to be unlawful; and, consequently, it was abolished. The English Puritans looked upon the celebration of Christmas as the work of Satan. At one time in early American history the observance of Christmas was illegal. A law was adopted in the general court of Massachusetts about 1650 which required that those who celebrated Christmas were to be punished. The statute read, ‘Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas...shall be subject to a fine of 5 shillings.’ The law’s preamble explained it’s purpose was ‘for preventing disorders...(by) observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries to the great dishonor of God and the offense of others.’ After the Mayflower pilgrims landed in 1620, the first December 25th was spent in labor and cutting down trees ‘in order to avoid any frivolity on the day sometimes called Christmas.’”
Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication that we are to celebrate the Lord’s birth. There are only two “birthday parties” mentioned in the Bible, Pharaoh’s (Genesis 40:20) and Herod’s (Matt. 14:6). Both were pagan celebrations and both had gruesome events associated with them—Pharaoh hung the chief baker, and Herod had John the Baptist beheaded!
Jesus said to remember His death (1 Corinthians 11:26) and look for His coming (Luke 12:37). Why do we add to His words in celebrating His birth? The Bible admonishes us not to add to the words of Scripture:
“Every word of God is pure...add thou not unto His Words, lest He reprove thee.” (Proverbs 30:5,6)
Some say, “Christmas is just a pleasant tradition. There’s no harm in it.” But Jesus says, “You make the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition,” (Mark, chapter 7).
The only way we can ever express gratefulness to the One who paid such a dear price to save our souls is to respect His Word and obey His commandments. We cannot do that if we participate in any way in a pagan tradition such as Christmas.
The Christmas tree is an abomination in the sight of God. There are many complex legends, but essentially the tree represents the slain god, Nimrod, reincarnated as Tammuz, the Babylonian messiah. Suffice to say that the Christmas tree is representative of a pagan idol, the very idol whose honoring is condemned as a great abomination in Ezekiel 8:14. We have heard well-meaning people remark, “So it has pagan roots; I do not worship the tree.” Yet what do they do with it. They drape it with garlands, just as the pagan priest honored his gods in Acts 14:13. They deck it with silver and gold, as the tree idol is decorated in Jeremiah 10:3,4. According to the dictionary, worship can simply mean “great honor and respect.” A plain little green tree seems to get the royal treatment during the Christmas season. It occupies the foremost place in the home where it will be noticed and admired even by passers-by from outside as it stands glistening in the window, bedecked with jewels and arrayed more gloriously than Solomon. If it’s not an idol, why are people so unwilling to give it up? It it’s not an idol, why do they sing “worshipful” songs to it? “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches.” The “green tree” is mentioned ten times in the Bible and in every instance it is associated with idolatry.
The exchanging of gifts is also a pagan custom. Statues of gods and other trinkets were exchanged during religious festivals in heathen lands. Yet, to quote Albert James Dager, who has written on the subject of Christmas traditions in Media Spotlight, “There is certainly nothing wrong with giving gifts to family and friends out of love and genuine appreciation for what they have meant throughout the year. But it would be far better if those gifts were given spontaneously rather than under pressure to meet the social requirements of a pagan holiday. Here it is important to examine our motives. A gift in itself is certainly not evil. A gift given under pressure is a compromise to one’s conscience and is little more than a bribe.”
Mr. Dager also observes, “The atmosphere of the world during Christmas is evidence of its incompatibility with Christ. The media are filled with advertising and programming that turns Christmas into a hedonistic celebration. Jesus is so rarely mentioned that it’s obvious He has little to do with the day anyhow.”
Why is it that the world, that hates Christ, loves Christmas? Multitudes will accept Jesus as a helpless babe in a manger while rejecting Him as Lord of their lives. We cringe when we hear of ministers of the Gospel, after preaching the “Christmas” sermon, extending invitations to sinners to “ask the baby Jesus to come into your heart.” There is no salvation in such a warped concept of surrender to the Living God.
To those who would say, “Let’s put Christ back in Christmas,” we would respond, He was never the “reason for the season” to begin with! Let the world have its tinseled, liquored up Christmas. “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
References:
“The Origin of Christmas Traditions,” Al Dager, Media Spotlight
“The Truth About Christmas,” Charles Halff, Christian Jew Foundation
The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop
Babylon Mystery Religion, Ralph Woodrow
World Book Encyclopedia
Addendum 4/17/07:
Rabbinical Judaism likes to put “fences” around commandments. Why are Messianics so de-fence-less against Christmas? We often hear, “As long as you don’t worship the tree, it’s OK to have it.” Yet the Second commandment tells us not only “Do not worship idols” but don’t even have them around. “Does it not concern you what God thinks about the “mystery forms” of imagery that you claim are harmless? They represent the enemy of our souls whether we see it that way or not. Did Yeshua redeem us so we could continue in the “chambers of imagery” that He abhors (Ezek. 8:12)? What is the difference between a marble statue of Zeus or a bedecked, gaudy tree prominently displayed in a room in your home? Can you exhibit a Buddha in your living room? As long as you don’t worship it, why not? How about a Mary statue? A Jesus picture on the wall? We knew a man who would gaze at his Jesus picture to keep him from sin. His wife was defending the practice, telling us that it was working. The man was an alcoholic. Yet he would not read the Bible or surrender his life to doing God’s will. Eventually he fell back to alcohol abuse and wife abuse. The picture did not deliver him. He forsook the Word of God for chambers of imagery. If you find holidays such as Christmas “neutral,” just what does comprise temptations to idolatrous practices in our generation? We are told to “flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14) but if there is no idolatry to flee from in our modern Christian/Jewish world, maybe these Scriptures are irrelevant?
Patrick and Maureen LaFaive
(MOSS PATCH NEWSLETTER, Vol. 2, No. 7, November 1991)
As Christians, we gave up Christmas seven years ago when we became aware of the pagan roots of this celebration and diligently searched the Scriptures to see what the Bible had to say about it.
We learned that Christmas is essentially a pagan holiday with a thin Christian veneer. Jesus was not born on December 25th, but the pagans celebrated the Birth of the Unconquered Sun (Saturnalia) at this precise time of year, worshipping their gods with trees, yule logs, wassail, holly, mistletoe, and all the trimmings, right down to the Christmas goose. To make a long story short, in order to bring unconverted pagans into the Roman Catholic church long, long ago, the Church met them half way—letting them keep the pagan feasts that they enjoyed so much, and just “Christianizing” them. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea to Christianize paganism until it is discovered that the Word of God specifically forbids it over and over again throughout the Bible.
For example:
“Learn not the way of the heathen...for the customs of the people are vain...” (Jeremiah 10:2,3).
“Take heed...that thou inquire not after their gods saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.” (Deut. 12:30)
“...Abstain from pollutions of idols” (Acts 15:20).
As Alexander Hislop brings out in The Two Babylons, “The tendency on the part of Christians to meet paganism half way was very early developed. Tertullian, about the year 230, bitterly lamented the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect and contrasted it with the strict fidelity of the pagans to their own superstition:
‘By us, says he, ‘who are strangers to (Jewish) Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia are now frequented, gifts are carried to and fro, new year’s day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; oh how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians.’”
Charles Halff, of the Christian Jew Foundation, in his booklet, “The Truth About Christmas” reports:
“The pagan history of Christmas has been well known throughout history. In fact, at one time the celebration of this pagan custom was forbidden by law in England. In 1644, Parliament declared Christmas to be unlawful; and, consequently, it was abolished. The English Puritans looked upon the celebration of Christmas as the work of Satan. At one time in early American history the observance of Christmas was illegal. A law was adopted in the general court of Massachusetts about 1650 which required that those who celebrated Christmas were to be punished. The statute read, ‘Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas...shall be subject to a fine of 5 shillings.’ The law’s preamble explained it’s purpose was ‘for preventing disorders...(by) observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries to the great dishonor of God and the offense of others.’ After the Mayflower pilgrims landed in 1620, the first December 25th was spent in labor and cutting down trees ‘in order to avoid any frivolity on the day sometimes called Christmas.’”
Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication that we are to celebrate the Lord’s birth. There are only two “birthday parties” mentioned in the Bible, Pharaoh’s (Genesis 40:20) and Herod’s (Matt. 14:6). Both were pagan celebrations and both had gruesome events associated with them—Pharaoh hung the chief baker, and Herod had John the Baptist beheaded!
Jesus said to remember His death (1 Corinthians 11:26) and look for His coming (Luke 12:37). Why do we add to His words in celebrating His birth? The Bible admonishes us not to add to the words of Scripture:
“Every word of God is pure...add thou not unto His Words, lest He reprove thee.” (Proverbs 30:5,6)
Some say, “Christmas is just a pleasant tradition. There’s no harm in it.” But Jesus says, “You make the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition,” (Mark, chapter 7).
The only way we can ever express gratefulness to the One who paid such a dear price to save our souls is to respect His Word and obey His commandments. We cannot do that if we participate in any way in a pagan tradition such as Christmas.
The Christmas tree is an abomination in the sight of God. There are many complex legends, but essentially the tree represents the slain god, Nimrod, reincarnated as Tammuz, the Babylonian messiah. Suffice to say that the Christmas tree is representative of a pagan idol, the very idol whose honoring is condemned as a great abomination in Ezekiel 8:14. We have heard well-meaning people remark, “So it has pagan roots; I do not worship the tree.” Yet what do they do with it. They drape it with garlands, just as the pagan priest honored his gods in Acts 14:13. They deck it with silver and gold, as the tree idol is decorated in Jeremiah 10:3,4. According to the dictionary, worship can simply mean “great honor and respect.” A plain little green tree seems to get the royal treatment during the Christmas season. It occupies the foremost place in the home where it will be noticed and admired even by passers-by from outside as it stands glistening in the window, bedecked with jewels and arrayed more gloriously than Solomon. If it’s not an idol, why are people so unwilling to give it up? It it’s not an idol, why do they sing “worshipful” songs to it? “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches.” The “green tree” is mentioned ten times in the Bible and in every instance it is associated with idolatry.
The exchanging of gifts is also a pagan custom. Statues of gods and other trinkets were exchanged during religious festivals in heathen lands. Yet, to quote Albert James Dager, who has written on the subject of Christmas traditions in Media Spotlight, “There is certainly nothing wrong with giving gifts to family and friends out of love and genuine appreciation for what they have meant throughout the year. But it would be far better if those gifts were given spontaneously rather than under pressure to meet the social requirements of a pagan holiday. Here it is important to examine our motives. A gift in itself is certainly not evil. A gift given under pressure is a compromise to one’s conscience and is little more than a bribe.”
Mr. Dager also observes, “The atmosphere of the world during Christmas is evidence of its incompatibility with Christ. The media are filled with advertising and programming that turns Christmas into a hedonistic celebration. Jesus is so rarely mentioned that it’s obvious He has little to do with the day anyhow.”
Why is it that the world, that hates Christ, loves Christmas? Multitudes will accept Jesus as a helpless babe in a manger while rejecting Him as Lord of their lives. We cringe when we hear of ministers of the Gospel, after preaching the “Christmas” sermon, extending invitations to sinners to “ask the baby Jesus to come into your heart.” There is no salvation in such a warped concept of surrender to the Living God.
To those who would say, “Let’s put Christ back in Christmas,” we would respond, He was never the “reason for the season” to begin with! Let the world have its tinseled, liquored up Christmas. “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
References:
“The Origin of Christmas Traditions,” Al Dager, Media Spotlight
“The Truth About Christmas,” Charles Halff, Christian Jew Foundation
The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop
Babylon Mystery Religion, Ralph Woodrow
World Book Encyclopedia
Addendum 4/17/07:
Rabbinical Judaism likes to put “fences” around commandments. Why are Messianics so de-fence-less against Christmas? We often hear, “As long as you don’t worship the tree, it’s OK to have it.” Yet the Second commandment tells us not only “Do not worship idols” but don’t even have them around. “Does it not concern you what God thinks about the “mystery forms” of imagery that you claim are harmless? They represent the enemy of our souls whether we see it that way or not. Did Yeshua redeem us so we could continue in the “chambers of imagery” that He abhors (Ezek. 8:12)? What is the difference between a marble statue of Zeus or a bedecked, gaudy tree prominently displayed in a room in your home? Can you exhibit a Buddha in your living room? As long as you don’t worship it, why not? How about a Mary statue? A Jesus picture on the wall? We knew a man who would gaze at his Jesus picture to keep him from sin. His wife was defending the practice, telling us that it was working. The man was an alcoholic. Yet he would not read the Bible or surrender his life to doing God’s will. Eventually he fell back to alcohol abuse and wife abuse. The picture did not deliver him. He forsook the Word of God for chambers of imagery. If you find holidays such as Christmas “neutral,” just what does comprise temptations to idolatrous practices in our generation? We are told to “flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14) but if there is no idolatry to flee from in our modern Christian/Jewish world, maybe these Scriptures are irrelevant?
11/24/2009
The Water Ain't So Fine After All
The Water Ain't So Fine After All
By Banner Kidd
In most things I am a skeptic. I’m accused of some of being negative, but I don’t consider myself a negative thinker. I consider myself a positive thinker who wants to know the facts. There are things I believe for a certainty and there are things that I’m not sure about. The things I believe for a certainty trump the uncertain issues. That’s where I am positive in my outlook on life.
Most people who say they are positive thinkers, I believe, are not as positive as they let on. When I talk to them, or read things they’ve written, their lives are full of fear and reaction. This fear comes from an uncertainty about the things in life that we face on a daily basis. This fear-gripped society is tapped into and propagated by people who have money and power in order to make more money and increase power over the masses.
I watch the news and hear the fear-mongering about the latest crisis; H1N1. The World Health Organization, an arm of the United Nations, has named this a pandemic and people who live in fear hear the declaration and will do whatever the government tells them to do. The sad fact is that many will not take the time to see what is really going on in the world.
I call it the “Just give me my MTV generation.” What I mean is that people just want to have fun. We, as a society, have become so distracted by amusement with fast moving technology and free flowing cash. The pursuit of happiness has become the driving force in much of America. The merchandisers have tapped into this, providing more things to distract and keep people so busy that they pay no attention to what is going on around them. Even the drug companies have created pills to keep people happy. Meanwhile those who are profiting from this endeavor are doing more and more to create a mind-numbed citizenry that falls into more bondage everyday, while being totally unaware of it.
It’s the frog in the pot story. Frogs like the water. Put him in a pan of water, on the stove and turn the flame on low. The frog is a happy camper in this water. It gets a bit warmer and he’s even happier. But as the water gets hotter, and the flame is turned up, the frog doesn’t realize that he is going to be cooked to death! By the time he realizes he’s in trouble it’s too late to get out. I believe the same thing is going to happen with the majority of America.
I was a frog in the pot once. I began to hear another Voice telling me to wake up and look around me. I needed to see where I was at, who was turning up the heat, and how they were doing it. Those who are turning up the heat, and know what they’re doing, are all being influenced by one particular force in the world. There is a supreme liar who is the father of all liars. We are being lied to and have been for a long time. Most of the world is in the pan. They’re beckoning others to “Come on in, the water is fine.” But it’s a lie they’ve believed and they’re unwittingly propagating the lie. The Bible says that these are deceived and they are being used to deceive.
Because mankind refuses to recognize his death sentence he is destined to die. Because mankind refuses to acknowledge why he is under a death sentence he is destined to die. The liar has said from the beginning, “You shall not surely die!” Since then men who have believed this lie parrot the lie. In essence they’re saying, “Come on in, the water is fine.” But those who stay in the pot will die!
The lie begins with questioning the Word of God. The question is “Did God really say…?” And its power lies in the lying proclamation, “You shall surely not die.” The lying concept is that you will not die for rebellion and disobedience to the Commandments of the Creator. But the Commandments of God are in direct opposition to the carnal nature of mankind who are enjoying their quest for 24/7 happiness.
This quest for24/7 happiness is fueled by a power hungry group of people who propagate the lie. They themselves are deceived into believing they are an elite group that won’t suffer the wrath of God that will come upon the sons of disobedience – the sons of the liar, the serpent of old. These men are liars, just as their father is the supreme liar. They will be judged for this if they don’t repent. And those who believe their lies will likewise be judged for their lives of rebellion as well.
So today most of America and in fact the world is in fear of losing the happiness that they are deceived into believing they have. They are so distracted by gadgets and entertainment that they don’t feel the water getting hotter. When they start feeling depressed or anything that they deem “negative” comes into their life they begin to look for more distraction. They want to shut up the negative voices and they do it by looking for more distraction which is readily supplied by men who are profiting from it. The result is a mind-numbed, dumbed downed citizenry that is unwittingly complicit in their own demise.
Our drugged society that receives its fix from pharmaceuticals, rock and roll, movies, Ipods, video games, sex, illegal drugs, and alcohol is a direct result of rejecting the Commandments of God – the Truth of God. The Bible says that the LORD sends strong delusion to those who have not received a love for the Truth that they might believe the lie. Because people don’t love the Truth, which is the Word of God, the lie is easily believed.
When the professing church abandons the Truth society falls in lock step. The church is not reflecting the Light in the darkness. She ends up being those who say, “Come on in, the water is fine.”
This lie is from the beginning, as the church is from the beginning. The liar has always asked, “Did God really say we are to obey HIS Commandments of Torah?” And he has always followed it up with, “You shall not surely die” for disregarding HIS Torah. Yet the professing church has done just that. They have replaced the Truth with the lie.
Rejecting Torah it has become the doctrines of men. The Feasts of the LORD are now replaced by pagan holidays and the church in their arrogance says they’ve “redeemed” them for God. God has never redeemed paganism. HE condemned it and said that those who practice it will not inherit HIS kingdom. HIS Sabbath is replaced by observance of the day of the sun god, Mithra, and yet the church says, “Did God really say we have to observe HIS Sabbath? HE did away with it and we can choose any day we want for Sabbath. You will not surely die for disregarding HIS commanded Sabbath observance!”
Meanwhile the world believes the lie and they don’t see any Truth coming from the professing church. All they see is another part of the lie. The church is practicing the same thing as the world. The world goes after Christmas because it is not of God. The church believes the lie that she can use Christmas to reach people for God. It hasn’t worked because it is not of God. And then the professing church gets mad because the world is taking Christ out of Christmas. The truth is that the world is waking up to the truth that Christ has nothing to do with Christmas while the professing church hangs on to the lie with all she’s worth! She keeps calling out to those who she sees as on the outside saying, “Come on in, the water is fine!” She doesn’t realize that they are all in the same pan together!
There are those in the pan who are born again, and there are those who aren’t. I confess I don’t know how to separate them one from another. I can look at what their practices are and identify them as of being in keeping with Torah or not, but I don’t know which ones are really seeking the Truth and which ones are comfortably and irrevocably in the lie. Those who are truly seeking the Truth will begin to realize they need to get out of the pan. Those who aren’t seeking the Truth will tell anyone who speaks the Truth, “I don’t want to hear your negativity. You’re keeping people from the kingdom because of your divisiveness.” Since when is proclaiming the Truth of the Word divisive? But, in fact it is divisive, just as Yeshua (Jesus) said. HE said, “I did not come to bring peace, but to bring a sword.” This sword is HIS Word that divides even parents from children. It divides those who want to hear the Truth from those who are comfortable in remaining in the lie.
What I - and many more even you if you love the Truth - am called to do is proclaim the Truth. I pray that there are those who will hear the Truth and begin to come out. When you hear the Truth it means you must take action. You remain in the lie when you see and hear the Truth yet stay in the pan. You must realize that you are still believing the lie that says, “Surely you will not die!”
In Revelation Yeshua said, “Come out of her (Babylon) MY people.” His wrath is coming upon Babylon and those who follow after her lies. The professing church has set up residence and staked her claim for existence in Babylon! What she practices is Babylonian and the LORD she claims to follow is saying, “Come out of her!”
Our Creator is speaking the same thing HE has said from the beginning. Please shut out the voices of men, remove the distractions so that you might hear HIS Voice, and heed HIS exhortation before you can’t get out of the pan.
http://torahperspective.com/2009/11/water-aint-so-fine-after-all.html
By Banner Kidd
In most things I am a skeptic. I’m accused of some of being negative, but I don’t consider myself a negative thinker. I consider myself a positive thinker who wants to know the facts. There are things I believe for a certainty and there are things that I’m not sure about. The things I believe for a certainty trump the uncertain issues. That’s where I am positive in my outlook on life.
Most people who say they are positive thinkers, I believe, are not as positive as they let on. When I talk to them, or read things they’ve written, their lives are full of fear and reaction. This fear comes from an uncertainty about the things in life that we face on a daily basis. This fear-gripped society is tapped into and propagated by people who have money and power in order to make more money and increase power over the masses.
I watch the news and hear the fear-mongering about the latest crisis; H1N1. The World Health Organization, an arm of the United Nations, has named this a pandemic and people who live in fear hear the declaration and will do whatever the government tells them to do. The sad fact is that many will not take the time to see what is really going on in the world.
I call it the “Just give me my MTV generation.” What I mean is that people just want to have fun. We, as a society, have become so distracted by amusement with fast moving technology and free flowing cash. The pursuit of happiness has become the driving force in much of America. The merchandisers have tapped into this, providing more things to distract and keep people so busy that they pay no attention to what is going on around them. Even the drug companies have created pills to keep people happy. Meanwhile those who are profiting from this endeavor are doing more and more to create a mind-numbed citizenry that falls into more bondage everyday, while being totally unaware of it.
It’s the frog in the pot story. Frogs like the water. Put him in a pan of water, on the stove and turn the flame on low. The frog is a happy camper in this water. It gets a bit warmer and he’s even happier. But as the water gets hotter, and the flame is turned up, the frog doesn’t realize that he is going to be cooked to death! By the time he realizes he’s in trouble it’s too late to get out. I believe the same thing is going to happen with the majority of America.
I was a frog in the pot once. I began to hear another Voice telling me to wake up and look around me. I needed to see where I was at, who was turning up the heat, and how they were doing it. Those who are turning up the heat, and know what they’re doing, are all being influenced by one particular force in the world. There is a supreme liar who is the father of all liars. We are being lied to and have been for a long time. Most of the world is in the pan. They’re beckoning others to “Come on in, the water is fine.” But it’s a lie they’ve believed and they’re unwittingly propagating the lie. The Bible says that these are deceived and they are being used to deceive.
Because mankind refuses to recognize his death sentence he is destined to die. Because mankind refuses to acknowledge why he is under a death sentence he is destined to die. The liar has said from the beginning, “You shall not surely die!” Since then men who have believed this lie parrot the lie. In essence they’re saying, “Come on in, the water is fine.” But those who stay in the pot will die!
The lie begins with questioning the Word of God. The question is “Did God really say…?” And its power lies in the lying proclamation, “You shall surely not die.” The lying concept is that you will not die for rebellion and disobedience to the Commandments of the Creator. But the Commandments of God are in direct opposition to the carnal nature of mankind who are enjoying their quest for 24/7 happiness.
This quest for24/7 happiness is fueled by a power hungry group of people who propagate the lie. They themselves are deceived into believing they are an elite group that won’t suffer the wrath of God that will come upon the sons of disobedience – the sons of the liar, the serpent of old. These men are liars, just as their father is the supreme liar. They will be judged for this if they don’t repent. And those who believe their lies will likewise be judged for their lives of rebellion as well.
So today most of America and in fact the world is in fear of losing the happiness that they are deceived into believing they have. They are so distracted by gadgets and entertainment that they don’t feel the water getting hotter. When they start feeling depressed or anything that they deem “negative” comes into their life they begin to look for more distraction. They want to shut up the negative voices and they do it by looking for more distraction which is readily supplied by men who are profiting from it. The result is a mind-numbed, dumbed downed citizenry that is unwittingly complicit in their own demise.
Our drugged society that receives its fix from pharmaceuticals, rock and roll, movies, Ipods, video games, sex, illegal drugs, and alcohol is a direct result of rejecting the Commandments of God – the Truth of God. The Bible says that the LORD sends strong delusion to those who have not received a love for the Truth that they might believe the lie. Because people don’t love the Truth, which is the Word of God, the lie is easily believed.
When the professing church abandons the Truth society falls in lock step. The church is not reflecting the Light in the darkness. She ends up being those who say, “Come on in, the water is fine.”
This lie is from the beginning, as the church is from the beginning. The liar has always asked, “Did God really say we are to obey HIS Commandments of Torah?” And he has always followed it up with, “You shall not surely die” for disregarding HIS Torah. Yet the professing church has done just that. They have replaced the Truth with the lie.
Rejecting Torah it has become the doctrines of men. The Feasts of the LORD are now replaced by pagan holidays and the church in their arrogance says they’ve “redeemed” them for God. God has never redeemed paganism. HE condemned it and said that those who practice it will not inherit HIS kingdom. HIS Sabbath is replaced by observance of the day of the sun god, Mithra, and yet the church says, “Did God really say we have to observe HIS Sabbath? HE did away with it and we can choose any day we want for Sabbath. You will not surely die for disregarding HIS commanded Sabbath observance!”
Meanwhile the world believes the lie and they don’t see any Truth coming from the professing church. All they see is another part of the lie. The church is practicing the same thing as the world. The world goes after Christmas because it is not of God. The church believes the lie that she can use Christmas to reach people for God. It hasn’t worked because it is not of God. And then the professing church gets mad because the world is taking Christ out of Christmas. The truth is that the world is waking up to the truth that Christ has nothing to do with Christmas while the professing church hangs on to the lie with all she’s worth! She keeps calling out to those who she sees as on the outside saying, “Come on in, the water is fine!” She doesn’t realize that they are all in the same pan together!
There are those in the pan who are born again, and there are those who aren’t. I confess I don’t know how to separate them one from another. I can look at what their practices are and identify them as of being in keeping with Torah or not, but I don’t know which ones are really seeking the Truth and which ones are comfortably and irrevocably in the lie. Those who are truly seeking the Truth will begin to realize they need to get out of the pan. Those who aren’t seeking the Truth will tell anyone who speaks the Truth, “I don’t want to hear your negativity. You’re keeping people from the kingdom because of your divisiveness.” Since when is proclaiming the Truth of the Word divisive? But, in fact it is divisive, just as Yeshua (Jesus) said. HE said, “I did not come to bring peace, but to bring a sword.” This sword is HIS Word that divides even parents from children. It divides those who want to hear the Truth from those who are comfortable in remaining in the lie.
What I - and many more even you if you love the Truth - am called to do is proclaim the Truth. I pray that there are those who will hear the Truth and begin to come out. When you hear the Truth it means you must take action. You remain in the lie when you see and hear the Truth yet stay in the pan. You must realize that you are still believing the lie that says, “Surely you will not die!”
In Revelation Yeshua said, “Come out of her (Babylon) MY people.” His wrath is coming upon Babylon and those who follow after her lies. The professing church has set up residence and staked her claim for existence in Babylon! What she practices is Babylonian and the LORD she claims to follow is saying, “Come out of her!”
Our Creator is speaking the same thing HE has said from the beginning. Please shut out the voices of men, remove the distractions so that you might hear HIS Voice, and heed HIS exhortation before you can’t get out of the pan.
http://torahperspective.com/2009/11/water-aint-so-fine-after-all.html
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