Why December 25th?
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Posted:Dec 17, 2006 7:33 am
Last Updated:May 10, 2024 7:12 am 4738 Views
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I do not disrespect and certainly would never, intended or unintended, seek to show any disreverance for the Holiness nor Blessings of the birth of Yahshua HaMaschiah....I am so loved by Him and so eternally grateful for this Gift of YHWH. I only wish to examine this tradition, its roots. After all, not only is this time of the year what we call Christmas, but it is also the Festival of Lights - Chanukah (which began, this calendar year, yesterday, December 16, 2006). So, let us shed some light upon this subject - and then having seen by the light, examine what we do and come before YHWH and see if this matters in His Heart. Shalom dear brothers and sisters of Yahshua, of Light.
December 25: This day was observed as Mithras' birthday, called "Natralis Invictus", the rebirthof the winter sun, unconquered. So, who or what is this Mithras? Before I answer that question, know that this day that we celebrate as the birth of the , Yahshua (anglacized as Jesus) has historically been proven not to have been in the month we call December but more likely September.
Mithraism: It was a religion and was all about worshipping the sun (not the ) and was called Mithras Solis Invictus - Mithras the unconquered sun. It was the result of a merger of the astrology of the Chaldean priests of Marduk (Baal) [we all know that name!] with the Indo-Iranian priests of Mithras. The sun-idol Mithras is mentioned in the "sacred writings" of both cults: the Avesta and the Vedas. The sun-idol is called "THE LORD" in both. It was very much a part of the pagan Roman background pre-Constantine and the many changes brought about by that RC Pope in and around 300 AD [like changing the Sabbath (the 7th day which is Saturday) to sun-day]. The mysteries of this religion were revealed only to the initiates, who were perdominantly soldiers of the Roman army, who spread this religion all over the civilized world by way of the good Roman roads. Mithraism was the primary religion of the Roman Empire from BCE 222 through to the 4th century CE. Mithraism was the chief rival of what we call "Christianity" [now that surprises me, all along I thought it was Judaism and Christianity that were at odds - which is weird considering Yahshua was a Hebrew and kept all the Holy Feast Days of YHWH]. So, we know the solution today, when we are at odds with anything, right? We are taught to be politically correct, to see if we can't come up with some agreeable compromise...you know, for peace's sake - just look at the middle East today. And so, even way way back then...we did just that. Christianity, in order to convert pagans into believers, compromised and blended customs and traditions of Mithraism into the original true beliefs of the followers of Yahshua.
Mithraic Doctrine: Here are some highlights of this religion. You do the analytical comparison with the religious practises of Christianity today - including, of course, the purpose for this post...why December 25th? In your "comparison", don't leave out the religion we call "protestanism;" it's not only the religion we call "roman catholicism" that still, to this day, incorporates some of these rituals and traditions of paganism.
1. centre of the Mithraic sun-cult was Rome 2. the leader of the ritual service was called pater which is Latin for father [I'm the of RC parents so I know what we call our RC priests] there was a 3. pater-patratus over the paters - a papa or pope 4. those below the pope were called brothers 5. the cult was for men only 6. the cult had a trinity - Mithras, Rashnu and Vohu Manah, 3 'persons' but yet 'one' 7. Sun-day was kept hallowed in honor of Mithras, the sun. [look at our North American "sun-day" laws about closing and no work...on sun-day] This tradition that we have about sun-day comes to us directly from what is called the Blue Laws, first enforced throughout the Roman Empire, then through western traditions into our "new world". The edict was initiated by Pope Constantine I forbidding officials, artisans or merchants from engaging inany work on the sun-day in order to give honor to the sun, Mithras. 8. it supported the divine right of kings, including emperor worship 9. the pater stood at one end of an oblong room performing blood rituals, with an indoor "altar" at his end on which a victim (Latin "host") was sacrificed 10. they had a sun-shaped wafer disc like the Egyptians 11. the assembly knelt, sat and stood in unison. DOES ANY of this sound familiar?
N'tzarim: The sect of Judaism/Yahudaism, that believed Yahshua was the Messiah. By the 4th century CE it no longer existed openly and gnostic clones had sprung up and began to compete with Mithraism for dominance. See something familiar: like in our politics will not a politician compromise his/her beliefs to become the stronger party, to win the peoples votes, to increase its numbers. Look at our large "churches"; how pure, how true is the Word that is taught? Does he/she who wishes to lead that church speak the truth or tell the people what they want to hear, a kind of feel good kind of watered down, blended Word?
YHWH Appointed - Man Changed: So what Yahshua was all about, what He preached, shared and taught, became blended in Mithraism. Yahshua never spoke or taught anything that had not already been laid out in what we call the "old testament." He told us he spoke only what the Father spoke to him, spoke only the Father's Words. Yahshua kept YHWH's appointed and set-apart Holy Feast Days. As one historian put it, "Christianity didn't conquer Mithraic Paganism. Mithraism blended in, and CHANGED NAMES."
Does it matter, I wonder, to Yahshua, that I celebrate His birthday, the 's birthday, on a day traditionally set aside for pagan worship of the sun?
May the Light of YHWH Light Up Your Reason this Season!!
As He so love the world...so I send you my love.
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Happy Thanksgiving - Only One Day a Year?? Por Que??
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Posted:Oct 7, 2006 7:38 am
Last Updated:Dec 21, 2006 5:17 am 4974 Views
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Is it not strange that we have a custom here in Canada (and the United States but a different date) where our government has given us a statutory holiday so that we can, but 1 day a year, GIVE THANKS! So, let me see, on Monday, which is Thanksgiving, I am to give thanks on that one day for all things from the preceding year! I don't know about you, but for me to remember every last thing that happened in the last 365 days that a person would consider "good" and a reason to say "thanks" for - is nearly impossible! Heck, I have days when I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday....
So, let me see, as best I can recall perhaps for just this past week alone, I do indeed give thanks for:
1. a perfectly healthy body
2. the ability to see, smell, hear, feel
3. the ability to read, speak, write (yes even my very limited Spanish)
4. the ability to operate a computer including typing of these words
5. the ability to understand when someone speaks with me
6. the ability to reason and be logical
7. my family
8. my friends - near and far
9. for having known true love just once in my life
10. and last...for YHWH's GREAT LOVE that has poured out all of the above and so much more in my life and for HIS mercies that are indeed new every morning.
For item 10 alone - there is reason for each and every one of us to give thanks every day that we are blessed with Life itself!!
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Who Are You
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Posted:Sep 16, 2006 8:45 am
Last Updated:Mar 23, 2007 4:07 pm 4437 Views
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How many of you have a label beneath which you are hidden, or perhaps from which you reap laurels?
Society seems not to see the person. People don't really know who they are.
When I ask you,Jane or John, who you are, will you say:
* I am Mr. or Mrs. X,
* I am the wife or husband of ....
or perhaps
* I am a lawyer, secretary, doctor?
That's fine, but just who is Jane/John? Cast aside these labels, I want to know Jane/John the person - who loves, hurts, laughs, cares, gets angry, is sad - the things that evoke these emotions, these actions, these reactions, these feelings.
Who are you, the human being? What has happened to individuality - me the person without the label? Does anyone dare to go behind the veil of a label and get to know the real thing - starting with self?
Are we so afraid to discover, uncover and be discovered and uncovered?
Who are you?
Grace - loves the human kind of the world, God's great garden; is sad when she sees people lying and dying in the streets, laughs at funny jokes and movies, loves to laugh, likes to learn knew things, is sometimes shy and quiet and likes to be alone, loves the L-rd with all that she can humanly muster, is blessed with two beautiful that thus give her a label "mom", is beautiful and warm and likes to be liked and hates to be disliked, she gets lonely but is not alone, she has lots of brothers and a sister that make her a "sister" and she fights with them 'cause that's what they're for - so that I don't fight with you my friends; Grace loves to take photographs and some times when she looks at them after they are developed, she sees in them what her soul saw when she took them, but didn't see when she took them; Grace is blessed with the gift of prose and poetry so at times this makes her a "poet" - but to call her a poet is not to say "this is Grace." All of these things make up but a portion of the enigmatic charactertiscs and qualities of character of the human kind called Grace. But these things are ever changing, ever evolving...so Grace is, from one day to the next, like turning the page of a book, and reading a little more about who Grace is...not knowing what is on the next page, but eagerly turning to discover and uncover...who is Grace this moment.
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What's The Solution?
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Posted:Sep 16, 2006 6:13 am
Last Updated:Nov 11, 2006 1:08 pm 4685 Views
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This past week we had a terrible, terrible tragedy happen in Montreal, Quebec. A young man went nuts shooting a number of students, one of whom has died (a 17 year old girl). Several others remain in intensive care in the hospital. Those not shot are afraid to return to school.
Watching the news and the polls and answers, the majority of the people are saying that what we need to "prevent" such things from happening are:
1. a gun registry; or
2. new laws on control control; or
3. a complete ban on guns in Canada (other than police and the like).
Now, I personally don't think any of these are the solution. For each such tragedy, there has been a deep underlying sadness, sickness and despair in the life of the person who perpetrated the act.
What's the solution? I believe it starts with the individual, within the context of his or her family; an awareness by the family, a knowing by the family, of their ; a seeing of what is going on in their lives, the changes, the moods - in our own homes is where it begins.
I live in a country where pretty much there are no parents at home; both are working to make ends meet and from early age are left in the care of other persons or agencies - during the formative years when they are learning how to live life, what is acceptable, what is good and right. Once the character and thought processes of a have been formed, the foundation laid, it becomes much more difficulty, as a parent, to reverse things that may have gone wrong. We, as parents, often times are so busy...we just don't see things, or perhaps we turn a blind eye thinking "my would never do such a thing."
So, what's the solution?
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Give Thanks - In All Things....So Difficult Some Times
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Posted:Sep 16, 2006 5:55 am
Last Updated:Nov 12, 2006 3:11 am 4684 Views
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Hi everyone, just an update on things here in Canada. Hope you all had a great week and remember to "count your blessings," for even though we go through trying/testing times...there is indeed one who is Greater than any of us, Who seeks to bless us and does so, with TODAY AS A GIFT TO LIVE and be successful and a blessing unto others whom He brings into our lives. Funny, I was thinking that so often I look to see what others can do for me, when in fact it is quite likely there is something I can do for them...even if it's just to listen. Another funny thing - I think that quite often we're afraid to just be "silent," that we have that urging, nagging feeling that we have to "say something," when in fact, if we are walking in Light and Truth, often just our presence can be a calming, reassurance to another that "all things will work out for good;" that dawn does indeed follow the dark. Have a most blessed day and may you "see" the people brought your way. We are all so very, very unique and wonderfully made!
Now, having said all of that, I bring news of tragedy that struck one of our colleges here in Canada this past week, a college in Montreal, Quebec. A man went on a shooting rampage and ultimately shot himself. But, before he did so he severely injured a number of people; several are still in intensive care and one young woman (17 years old I believe) has died. Can any of these people give thanks in such a situation? It would be very difficult for me to find something to be thankful for, certainly if it had been my who was killed. But, go on we must and as for me, I pray for the students, the families, that my God will grant them Shalom (Peace) at such a time as this - yes and especially the parents of the young man who was so tormented and demonized to have done such a thing.
Continue to bless others as you would have them bless you,
Grace (which means Blessed by God)
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I'll Begin - This is My City ....
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Posted:Sep 9, 2006 3:41 pm
Last Updated:Mar 23, 2007 4:07 pm 5083 Views
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I live in the largest city in Canada, Toronto. There is not a country in the world that does not have citizens living in Toronto. The population is around 3 million people - and that's just downtown...does not include all the suburbs. We have 4 seasons and we are now heading into the Fall, the leaves are starting to change colour and the air is cooling off, especially at night.
When people come to Canada to live, the majority will want to live in one of 3 cities: Vancouver, Toronto or Toronto - because that is where most of the jobs can be found. Most of the Canadian population is in the cities; there are large cities in each of the provinces of Canada.
I would estimate that 60 percent of the land mass is not lived in, utilized or developed. It's beautiful country.
The people who reside here are a kaleidiscope of colours, languages and customs. It's an awesome country to live in and if you want to work hard you will succeed. It's not as easy as it was 20 years ago, and many well educated people are finding themselves unemployed due to downsizing. But over all, I'd say it's probably the best country in the world in which to live. But, hey, I am prejudiced.
That's my intro.
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