And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:11-14
In a few days December 25th will be here. The streets are jammed with cars and the shopping malls and stores are jammed with people making final preparations for the long awaited day. Everywhere we see holly, mistletoe, and trees decorated with tinsel and bright lights. We see the images of rotund men with white beards and red suits. There are sounds of bells and songs about reindeer and sleighs.
There are also the ‘Christmas’ carols and manger scenes of a ‘little baby Jesus’ with shepherds and wise men. After all, so we are told—even by many pastors—this is the festive season commemorating the birth of Jesus. Every year we hear the same thing. “Jesus is the reason for the season”; “We need to ‘put Christ back in Christmas”; “Christmas is too commercial.” Of course, those who are knowledgeable know that Christ was not born on December 25th and that the observance of ‘Christmas’ did not originate with the birth of Christ or with Christianity.
The commercial world has successfully blended this ‘little baby Jesus’ into their world of fantasy and make-believe—just a once-a-year object, exploited for selfish gain—that will be forgotten and discarded as quickly as the wrapping on the packages on ‘Christmas’ morning. The world has no problem giving a token homage to a historical ‘baby Jesus’ in a manger as long as it will make the cash registers ring. But be assured that it reacts in hostility, as did Herod two thousand years ago, to a Jesus Christ as God on His sovereign throne.
You had to hear of the story of the interracial couple who met at Georgetown College which is located about six miles north of Lexington, Kentucky. The young woman is white and 24, who is from Pike County, Kentucky; the young man is black and 28, who is from Zimbabwe, Africa. The woman is now working on her master’s degree in Indiana, while her finance is now working at Georgetown College.
When the two go to visit the girl’s parents in Pike County, Kentucky (a rural area), they visit the church that her parents have gone to for most of their lives—a Free Will Baptist Church. Her mother a former Sunday school teacher; her father a former deacon and present church secretary. They did so last summer and they participated in the service musically by her playing the piano and by his singing a hymn.
After the service, the pastor, who retired after the incident and is still a member of the church, told both of them they could no longer participate in the church service or even become members. That was last June; by November 27th the church voted 9-6 to outlaw all interracial couples from participating in church except for funerals.
There is an interesting quote of the mother of the daughter, who is soon (next summer) going to be the mother of the daughter who had committed the abominable sin of miscegenation: “They are both Christians and they both try to live a Christian life and serve God. There is nothing in the Bible that we have found that tells us that that the couple should not be married.” I wonder how hard they have looked.
We are living in very deceptive times. The Bible says that almost the entire world will be deceived by the evil seed. Almost everything in this age is an illusion. Our money, our holidays, our institutions and even ourselves are images of examples of what the Bible talked about what would happen in the end of this age.
For example, our big holiday of Christmas is a big illusion. In the Friday, December 2, 2011, Cincinnati Enquirer, in its “Faith Matters” column,The Creation Museum, the product of Answers in Genesis 1-11, begins this weekend with a “preview of events for its annual Christmas celebrations with the events opening to the public next weekend. The museum has an extensive Christmas program, including Christmas Town, a combination of live nativity and dramas. The museum exhibits and “The Christmas Star” planetarium program each have admission and tickets. Admission after 5 p.m. on Christmas Town nights is $5. The Garden of Lights includes 60,000 Christmas lights, and the Christmas Town includes a reenactment of first-century Bethlehem and a marketplace with gifts and souvenirs. The outdoor Christmas Town and Garden of Lights are free through the season; with the town open 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 9, 10, 16, 17, 26, 27, 30 and 31.”
The word “Christmas” is not even mentioned once in the Bible; so much for sola scriptura! Christ’s mass was forbidden to be celebrated by many Protestants and before them the churches who were separate from and never a part of the Universal (Catholic) Church. One wonders as he hears of Black Friday and Cyber Monday how insane the season has become. It is like the letter to the editor that appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer on November 29th:
In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.
The gates of hell have prevailed against the false church. The last thing in the world they would want to be accused of is being a special race chosen by God to be above all other races in the world as clearly stated in Deut. 7:6. And yet the double mind is perfectly at ease with the notion of people who reject and despise Jesus Christ being called God’s chosen people, who in turn generate the label of ‘White Supremacist’ as if it were a dog turning to its own vomit. In John 10:38 and 20:29-31 Jesus, in essence, told them even if you don't believe His simple proclamation and doubt His Word, believe the works (signs and miracles) that you may know He is the Son of God. Likewise, being consistent with Jesus' reply for proof, the true identity of Baal worship can only be found by finding the ‘morals and dogma’, if I can use that term from Albert Pike, within the religious organizations that practice them. Do the elements of Baal worship dovetail with the modern judeo-Christian church? There’s about a dozen components of Baal worship, so let’s find out.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
