Continuing... I linked to this post and it introduces Rob's thoughts regarding the birthday of Jesus:
{sigh} What year is it? Oh yeah – we’re at the tail end of 2016. This means that for at least 7 years you have been hearing the truth being spoken on social media concerning the reality of X-mess and other pagan holidays. For my part, I put on “kid gloves” and tried to be as gentle but firm as possible in the last chapter of my book, Babylon Rising: And The First Shall Be Last, titled “Truth or Tradition.” I have often posted videos such as the following every year (as have many others) on Facebook and YouTube:
I’ve spoken about it at conferences and on radio shows too. In most cases, I’ve done so as gently as possible so as not to offend, but rather to educate and to get people to think. But alas, it still falls on willingly deaf ears – especially with friends and family. So, I’m just going to be blunt here:
Pastors: You are lying and you know it! Many of you even openly acknowledge that you know Yeshua was not born on December 25th, but then you go on to preach in front of your X-mess trees and banners that say Happy Birthday to Jesus behind you, while making up excuses for “Christianizing paganism” – a concept found nowhere in Scripture (in fact, a pattern strictly forbidden in the Bible).
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
In once sense I have no problem with this if you feel the Holy Spirit has convicted you not to celebrate Christmas and Easter because you get a greater meaning that transcends these two holidays. I've cued up the video at the particular point where Jim Staley talks about the Feast days and how they were instituted to point to Jesus. There is reason to believe this is the correct interpretation. So therefore should we as Christians keep the Feast Days?
This is a 2000 year old argument, and all I can tell you is what the Holy Spirit convicts me to say. The quickest answer is, No. There can be nothing special about observing the Feast Days by Christians other than a love for Christ Jesus. That is a personal thing, not an institutional thing, and it should not be preached as if somehow observing these dates gives you special blessings or brings you closer to God. If you observe them in that way, they will become a stumbling block.
Why am I so adamant about this? The words of Jesus in John 4 to the woman at the well:
19The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Christians are to look at the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament for a very special reason, the Torah was given to the Jews for a specific purpose, it pointed to the coming of the Messiah. It predicted the major events in his life so the Jews would know, THIS IS THE ONE. If you have signs to point to a place, do you need those signs once you have found it?
This is what is meant by 'Jesus came to fulfil the Law'. And I'll look at this an a later post as it has an interesting 9/11 link.
To argue that not keeping the days will insult God, firstly in accordance with the Torah, you would need to travel to Jerusalem and worship at the Temple. This clearly cannot be done and it was Jesus who predicted the utter destruction of the Temple because it was no longer needed. He makes it clear in the above quote, "true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth". Else, it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. It is your personal walk with the Spirit. Jesus is the Temple, you are His Church.
So is celebrating Christmas and Easter wrong?
I think we can answer this by the same token. But interestingly, the reasons Christians do not worship on the proper dates is down to the Pharisees. We see this in Paul's letters to the churches where he expressly warns about Judaizers trying to force Gentiles under the Law, saying; 'having been saved by the Sprit, you want these people to go back to the Law, which you yourselves couldn't keep?. There is nothing but death there.' (I paraphrase)
The early Christian Church fathers, after the death of the Disciples, would consult Pharisees regarding the correct dates to celebrate because they were based on the Jewish Moon cycle calendar. The Sanhedrin used this as a controlling hand over the young Church, and with this tensions grew. It got to the point the Church leaders at a Council meeting made the decision that in order to save the Church from division, they would break once and for all from the meddling of the Pharisees and in turn move all of the worship days so they never coincide with the Jewish Feast days again. They would instead come up with a formula for commemorating the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost that used their own calendar.
If this had not happened, would Easter and Christmas have been instituted? Would we even remember Jesus Christ now?
The Lord God will use error to further His cause. The Pagan holidays helped to cement Christianity and take it out of the reach of the Pharisees who wanted to kill it. We see the Jewish Root movement which Rob was a part looking at the New Testament through the lens of the Old Testament, they need to keep in mind Paul's warning.
The Jews do not believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah, so why would you want to give up the dates that are universally recognised with love and joy and being associated with Jesus and instead adopt the dates celebrated by the ones who reject and hate the Son of God? Careful thought is needed.