The evolution of same sex…

God created Adam [Hebrew: Adamah] and Eve [Hebrew: ishah], and since creation, procreation and the development of the human species has been through sex between a man and a woman.

God created laws to forbid sexual relations between people of the same-sex, it has to be said among other laws in this area; and in the Old Testament/Tanakh, specifically the Torah we read:

You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination. (Le 18:22 CJB)

In the New Testement/B’rit Hadashah we read:

24 This is why God has given them up to the vileness of their hearts’ lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other’s bodies. 25 They have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, by worshipping and serving created things, rather than the Creator—praised be he for ever. Amen. 26 This is why God has given them up to degrading passions; so that their women exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural; 27 and likewise the men, giving up natural relations with the opposite sex, burn with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty appropriate to their perversion. (Ro 1:24–27 CJB)

And:

Don’t you know that unrighteous people will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t delude yourselves—people who engage in sex before marriage, who worship idols, who engage in sex after marriage with someone other than their spouse, who engage in active or passive homosexuality… (1 Co 6:9 CJB)

Some people still believe the bible is unclear on what God is saying about lawful relationships between the sexes. Yahshua, although speaking about divorce, affirmed God’s original plan at creation when he said:

However, at the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. 7 For this reason, a man should leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, 8 and the two are to become one flesh. Thus they are no longer two, but one. 9 So then, no one should break apart what God has joined together.” (Mk 10:6–9 CJB).

At the end of the day, those who want to rebel against God, whether it be in this area, or any other – for there are many ways to rebel against God; yes, those people will do so. What can we do, pray for their repentance. When they seek light, don’t despise them but open the door of truth. It’s clear Yahshua came to save, to call people to repentance, to offer live – condemnation and judgment are not part of that offer, and as people who know the truth will be aware, this is an appointed time for condemnation and judgement, by the one who is appointed to judge.

Same sex couples have fought for their rights and freedoms for many years, and our society, which is more inclined to humanist tendencies than to uphold God’s word, is accommodating their desires. What is further down the line as society heads in that direction is pointed at in the following article, courtesy of BBC News.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45801043

So, two female mice can have babies, although two male mice can not at the present time. The success rate of this process which involves genetic manipulation is low, but in time science will improve it and reduce the risk of complications and negative outcomes. Even in this article by the BBC, they suggest that the process may be possible for humans some day! For me, that is a frightening thought. What perilous times await us! We have people who change their sex now, and it can be difficult to tell men from women! We have same-sex foster parents – what becomes of their children – did they choose to grow up with two parents of the same sex? What will happen in the future if two women, or two men can have a baby? That raises a whole new set of moral and ethical problems for both believers and non-believers alike.

Satan is at war to break all the conventions in God’s law to make them mute, to blind people to the light of God’s creation, His love and His plan of salvation for us. This scientific advance to allow the genetic manipulation of same-sex seed to produce offspring is another step down the path of causing spiritual, ethical and moral confusion for mankind.

America: above the law

The International Criminal Court (ICC), the court that investigates genocides and contraventions of international treaties relating to war, and organisation much respected by the majority of the Western World has been shunned by the USA once again, continuing the trend of the US administration keeping it at arm’s length since its inception in 2002.

The reason the US doesn’t want such a court to exist is obvious, it doesn’t want its own actions to be scrutinized under the spotlight. Indeed, the US has stated that it will bring sanctions against the ICC if the court pursues any US citizen for suspected illegal criminal acts. As Warren Bolton said, in quite dramatic language, the ICC is “dead to America”.

The rampant abuse by US troops and contract soldiers something that the US government wants covered up, there are many news sources that detail the effects of war, not just the immediate deaths and effects of weaponry, but also the long-lasting damage caused by weapons with heavy metals, causing cancers and damage to natural resources. This shows that the US government’s attitude to human rights stands in deficit to its hunger for the profits which war and the subsequent massive rebuilding projects bring its way. Surely this make even more sense when we consider the US is on the brink of withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council on the back of a poorly formed treaty encompassing disparate matters from human rights, climate change and rights pertaining to the sexual freedom of the LGBT community. I can’t help think that this treaty was deliberately hamstrung, loading into it a mismatch of ideals which in all probability will cause some countries not to want to ratify it.

Then when I consider that the US is loosening its humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, I am forced to look back at the history of the USA, and it strikes me that a country founded on destroying other people’s human rights with its genocide against the native American Indians, Trans Atlantic Slavery and the various discriminatory institutions that have sprung from that; that such a nation can never understand what it is to respect human rights, no matter how it paints itself on the world stage, that murky undercurrent and stench of iniquity will always find a way to break through.

America has not learned from its past, and is bound to keep on making the same mistakes again in the present and in the future. This abandoning of human rights principles and international justice should ring alarm bells all over the world. Who polices the police? With America appointing themselves as the guardians of the free world, what will we do as it seems all too apparent that their moral compass is off, and they refuse to have anyone to be answerable to? How does one conquer this power of self-righteousness, arrogance and conceit? Man might choose to form an alliance of nations that imposes sanctions on the USA and seeks to create new trade links with other countries in order to avoid buying from the USA. However, our God has his own way, to make the proud humbled, and as The Proverb’s state “Pride goes before destruction, and a proud spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:4).

The Guardian Article on ICC and the USA
BBC News Story on the UN Human Rights Council and the USA

Migrants, refugees and modern-day slavery

Are refugees and migrants examples of modern-day slaves?

When slavery first started, disunity was caused between free people to destabilise countries and make people vulnerable to be captured as slaves.

Today, arguably many nations are destabilised by foreign powers. People then are drawn into want and need because of a dysfunctional society. In its worst form, people are forced to flee their native lands to seek a better life elsewhere, and to cultivate that basic human need, to stay alive and live in safety.

Refugees and migrants, like slaves struggle to have their status recognised by their adopted society, they engage in hard and/or low paid work, they are often hated, abused and victimized.

I see the growing refugee crisis and movement of migrants across the world are symbolic of the rejuvenation of the power, or spiritual principality of slavery, manifest in a new form.

It is no surprise to me that The United States of America is chief of those nations causing instability in other nations. When people are refugees the children caught up in this are destined to suffer, not only upheval but the loss of their education, and therefore poor education and all that entails in terms of the potential limits on opporunities open to these children when they grow up, just further deepens the cycle of disruption, exploitation and pseudo-slavery.

It’s a cruel game those with power play, to lurk behind the scenes, carrying out their work, so they think, in darkness, devouring the resources of other lands, underpaying people in those lands for their labour to feed the capitalist system of exploitation where the profits on these resources are mostly earned abroad, thus creating poverty in those countries which have been exploited. Wars, destabilization, currency manipulation and extortionate lending all feed into this vicious cycle of devaluing people and lands as a tool to keep people suppressed, lacking the elements to truly define themselves, because they live under the definition of their oppressors.

When migrants and refugees take flight, many in power will complain about their influx, draft policies to “control” and help with integration, while knowing, but not wanting to admit, that the influx of these people into other countries is a natural consequence of capitalism and is needed to reinforce the notion that wealth, value and security are to be found in the lands of the oppressors. The sad fact it that a person who is less valued by the oppressor, can only have wealth, value and security in the doled out portions that the systemic, implicit mechanisms of control will naturally allow, even attempts to branch out beyond this predetermined way of life are likely to fall into stereotypes – the migrant footballer or sportsperson, black market trade, drugs; truly integration is the illusion of inclusion. To integrate fully is to deny oneself ones ability to truly define oneself, because the definition of integration is set by a people who, because of their pride, devalue and oppress other people to preserve “their own”.

4  “Look at the proud: he is inwardly not upright;
but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness.
5  Truly, wine is treacherous;
the arrogant will not live at peace
but keeps expanding his desires like Sh’ol;
like death, he can never be satisfied;
he keeps collecting all the nations for himself,
rallying to himself all the peoples.
6  Won’t all these take up taunting him
and say about him, in mocking riddles,
‘Woe to him who amasses other people’s wealth!—
how long must it go on?—
and to him who adds to himself the weight
of goods taken in pledge!
7  Won’t your own creditors suddenly stand,
won’t those who make you tremble wake up?
You will become their spoil.
8  Because you plundered many nations,
all the rest of the peoples will plunder you;
because of the bloodshed and violence done
to the land, the city and all who live there.

9  “ ‘Woe to him who seeks unjust gain for his household,
putting his nest on the heights,
in order to be safe from the reach of harm.
10  By scheming to destroy many peoples,
you have brought shame to your house
and forfeited your life.
11  For the very stones will cry out from the wall,
and a beam in the framework will answer them. (Hab 2:4–11 CJB).

Why would a priest abuse a child?

This makes for very disturbing reading. Decades, even generations of abuse in the church, and the church knew about it and covered it up!

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/14/us/pennsylvania-catholic-church-grand-jury/index.html

4) For certain individuals, the ones written about long ago as being meant for this condemnation, have wormed their way in—ungodly people who pervert God’s grace into a license for debauchery and disown our only Master and Lord, Yahshua the Messiah. (Jude 4 CJB).

I don’t understand why abuse happens, and what mindset a person must have to want to abuse another person, adult or child, male or female? I say that on the level of just being a human being. Then the added to this we have people in the church, priests, who are supposed to represent the God of Heaven, the creator of all things, who lives in unapproachable light, who founded His kingdom of righteousness, purity and justice, and these people are practicing and hiding up such abominable conduct! Surely this makes people both in and outside of the church look on our faith with horror!

The reality is, people have to face up to the fact that we live in a wicked world. When people masquerade as being righteous, while living disgusting abusive lives, we can see those people have no heart of love for the people. Without love for others, how can we know God. The bible says God is love. The institutions that shields such people are also corrupt, whether that be the Catholic church or any other church or institution. The problem is, people are so conditioned to believe that these churches are the way, perhaps there are just bad elements in the church that need to be rooted out, they don’t acknowledge the concept of the integrity of an institution. We should judge institutions, like people by their fruit. The zeal of people in institutions should be comparable to those in scripture for rooting out sin, not with carnal weapons like swords and the like, but with the spiritual power which God says he gives to all who call on him in truth.

3) For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way; 4) because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments 5) and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah. (2 Co 10:2–5 CJB).

Don’t be mislead by people and institutions who do not live according to God’s Word, who hide their sin, for in hiding their sin, it becomes all the more part of them, rather than something that can be forgotten and washed away by forgiveness. A rot has to be cut out, or the wood treated or replaced, one can not treat it by hiding or ignoring it, as it will only get worse, until the wood has no use.

This is a wake up call to flee what is evil and cling to what is good! If the rot has begun in your church family or denomination and there is no one who is repairing the breach to rectify the situation, GET OUT, FLEE! Yahshua himself talked of this creeping nature of sin and unrighteousness, for he said to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1) which is hypocrisy, and doesn’t a little yeast spread through the whole batch of dough?

Why not Easter?

I was recently asked this:

I understand not celebrating Christmas, but why do you not celebrate Easter?

My reply:

Easter is a festival based on the pagan celebration of the Vernal Equinox, and a full moon, which is happens on the first Sunday after that. This has to do with regeneration, rebirth and pagan fertility rights.

Passover is the direct and original biblical equivalent of Easter, rember Paul writes:

“Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corintians 5:7.

Passover and Easter are in conflict according to The Spirit, and subsequently my world view, for one is rooted in Scripture and specifically mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. The other isn’t mentioned in scripture, and actually has it’s roots in paganism. Remember God told us not to worhsip the sun, moon, stars or any created thing, and the nature of deception is to make something that isn’t right, seem correct. Yahshua/Jesus told us to be wary of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:16), these are people who forsake the comands of God, in favour of the traditions of men (Mark 7:13). Isn’t Easter such a tradition?

Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan & Syria

Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan & Syria. What do they all have in common? predominantly they are Muslim countries, all in the Middle East, and they all have natural wealth and resources. However, there is something tragic and unjust that all these countries share, that is that they are in the middle of the power games between The Western Word and Russia and China, two sides of a conflict that has to manufacture discord and disunity in order to maintain the existence of those societies, their values, their economies and their sense of who they are.

In the current time America, that nation which countries in The Western World seems to follow like blind sheep, could have come to an agreement with Russia at the UN to let chemical weapons inspectors into Syria to assess the source of chemical weapons. In like manner, Russia could have agreed to the Americans demands to achieve the same end. But unfortunately the main issue for these nations isn’t the death of innocent people, or the use of chemical weapons, especially when you consider the utter hypocrisy of nations who in their warmongering have slain many thousands of people as “collateral damage” on many occasions, by dropping bombs, even nuclear bombs which killed many more people in an instant. No, their main concern is their own pride, and their pride creates a bridge between them which will never join in the middle, and because of this, they can will never work together on issues like this, and there always will be a stand-off with one side blaming the other. As a result of this the truth will never be known until it is too late, just like Iraq, just like the many other times these when the ineffective diplomats fail in their discussions and the unverified and untested suspicions pushed out by these nations via the media become as good as fact. It will only be after many more innocent people are killed in futile strikes aimed at people who are rarely caught by them, and at chemical or nuclear resources that are often simply rebuilt, after more families are made homeless, and more refugees are created, that we will find that those very same nations that held up the investigations ALL played their parts in supplying and training people in that region to be their puppets in their power games.

On and on it goes, and each time it seems like it’s the first time. “Lessons will be learned”, and they always say, we will put in place measures to see this can never happen again. Yet the damage these nations do every time, destroys people lives, and not only that, shows contempt for life, as we vdebate about whether we allow entry to our nations those very same refugees that we cause to become refugees by our reckless “foreign policy”, greed and warmongering, pampering our self-interest under the guise of world security.

It utterly disgusts me that nations who can put people on the moon, orbit space with amazing technology for communication, create new land and hold back the sea, formulate infinitely complex agreements for making money, and even at the level of the everyday person on the street, achieve so much both individually and collectively; can achieve so little when it comes to creating peace, and seem so powerless when it comes to saving people’s lives, and ensuring justice.

In a world where our leaders have given up – if they even truly cared in the first place – and feel it is easier to see people die meaningless and senseless deaths, than to stand up for their rights, life itself has no worth. If we are entrusting the governance of our societies to people who act with such contempt, perhaps this situation is what we all deserve.

LGBT Proselytism

In recent years I’ve become aware that the LGBT movement has really grown and become a powerful force in society. It seems to me that we now have reached a point of LGBT proselytism, as drag queens go into schools to teach children as young as 2 about “gender fluidity” (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender sexual orientations). I find that somewhat strange as there are many choices a child can make in life, why should sexuality be thrust on toddlers? Surely there are more important things at that stage in life? How do we know those young children were not confused by what they saw? Why should the majority of children in those classes who are heterosexual be subjected to a spectacle like this?

I personally find drag queens repulsive, often over-sexualised examples of moral filth. That is not to say that I would discriminate or harm any LGBT person in any way, I just do not understand their impulses, and do not want to.

It seems to me that when it comes to the “protected characteristics” of race, sexual orientation and faith, there will always be conflicts in society because some people’s faith is at odds with some people’s sexual orientation, but because our society appears to value freedom of sexual orientation as paramount, over and above freedom of religion, we will always see these strange cases where people who try to exercise their faith are considered to be discriminating.

In public institutions I can see why any type of discrimination is not to be tolerated. However, for privately run institutions there is a grey area. For example people who have a faith may want to go to a place where they know that the other guests share their same principles, just as people who go to a whorehouse would probably not like to be interrupted by a church choir. Narrowing the choice for one section of society (LGBT), enables a choice to be made in conscience for another (those with a faith). No-one goes into a Halal or Jewish butchers to demand pork and then feel their rights have been deprived and make a complaint, neither does one go to a vegetarian restaurant and demand meat or vice versa, no, they go elsewhere so their needs can be met. The differences between public and private institutions need to be made clearer and the options for people need to be considered, narrowing of choice is not discrimination.

Society doesn’t see it yet, but what we are in fact doing is curtailing the freedoms of those who have faith, for those who demand that their sexual orientation be accepted by everyone, even for people, who by their nature can not do so without offending the God they worship and revere, and denying their own “protected characteristics”.

African Reset (Part One)

As you will have gathered from much of my writing, I’m conscious of the burden of black people, which isn’t surprising because I am black – although I am shocked at the numbers of black people who know of this “burden” but are just not able to communicate what this means to other people. Even as I write I feel like this is too big a subject to explain easily, one can get lost in the argument, because there are so many different angles and touch points where this burden manifests in life, and it is so easy to uncover one area of this burden, only for it to throw up questions containing why, what proof, but, – from people who don’t really understand where you are coming from.

I’ve written many times about injustice and inequality, but I am realising that on a deeper level there is iniquity, a deep-rooted wickedness practiced against people of colour, both by those who do not know what they do, as well as those that do.

Many hundreds of years ago both Muslim, Jewish and Christian people started to interpret Genesis chapter 9:18-27 and the biblical account of what has become known as The Curse of Ham in a particular way. This curse is written in the scripture timeline just after The Flood, with Noah’s curse on his son Ham’s child, Canaan “Kena‘an”, and apparently his descendants. Ham mocked his father’s drunken nakedness rather than find a garment to cover his father as the passage describes:

The sons of Noach who went out from the ark were Shem, Ham and Yefet. Ham is the father of Kena‘an. These three were the sons of Noach, and the whole earth was populated by them. Noach, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank so much of the wine that he got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. Ham, the father of Kena‘an, saw his father shamefully exposed, went out and told his two brothers. Shem and Yefet took a cloak, put it over both their shoulders, and, walking backward, went in and covered their naked father. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father lying there shamefully exposed.
When Noach awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. He said, “Cursed be Kena‘an; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.” Then he said, “Blessed be ADONAI, the God of Shem; Kena‘an will be their servant. May God enlarge Yefet; he will live in the tents of Shem, but Kena‘an will be their servant.” (Ge 9:17–27 – Complete Jewish Bible)

The curse of Ham, actually directed at one of Ham’s children, Canaan, would if Ham’s actions had been a sin against God, lasted at most four generations or approximately 120 years (Exodus 20:5/6) according to scripture.

[…] “for I, Jehovah thy God, am a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third generation, and on the fourth, of those hating Me, and doing kindness to thousands, of those loving Me and keeping My commands.” Young’s Literal Translation

The first questions I am asking are; would a man be able to initiate a curse that lasts longer than the curses which God himself pronounces? Does Noah’s curse fit the crime?

I personally don’t believe that the curses men can bring can last longer than the curses God pronounces, and neither do I feel that Ham’s actions, though not kind and honoring to his father, justify any curse at all, let alone an allegedly perpetual curse on his descendants.

We also need to consider if speaking in The Spirit is compatible with anger and/or semi-drunkenness, which Noah must have been as he awoke from his hangover to be taunted by his son?

Don’t get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit— (Complete Jewish Bible – Ephesians 5:18)

The Nazarites in Israel who were often prophets were forbidden from drinking wine (Numbers 6:1-21 compare with Amos 2:12)

On anger we read:

Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,  for anger lodges in the heart of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:9, CJB).

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.  (James 1:19–20, CJB).

I say this not to undermine the credibility and uprightness of Noah, he was as the bible states “righteous” (Genesis 6:9), but as the bible also states:

For there isn’t a righteous person on earth
who does [only] good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 CJB)

So it seems anger is not compatible with godliness, it is a work of “the flesh”. Additionally, no prophet in scripture that has PROPHESIED or cursed out of anger, God expresses His anger through the prophet. So it can be seen nether wine or anger seem to underpin legitimate prophecy or curses.

Additional problems with the Muslim, Jewish and Christian interpretations of “The Curse of Ham” is that; firstly, even though Noah cursed Canaan, this has been extrapolated to include all those people who were referred to as Canaanites in scripture, and those people inhabited present day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel (also known as historically as Phoenicia). Secondly, the curse was used by Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups to relate to all black people, even when the links to Canaanites being settled in Egypt are tenuous at best and no reference to skin colour is made in the biblical passage.

Moreover, if we are to extend Ham’s curse to people with black skin, then biblically, the Israelites were enslaved to the sons of Ham, in this case Cush (representing Egypt), before their deliverance from Egypt, this happened approximately 800 – 900 years after the flood according to scripture. With that being the case doesn’t that rather make it clear that the distorted interpretations of The Curse of Ham, if it did ever take effect were nullified by that point, or were not relevant to all of the sons of Ham and the nations that sprang from him?

The problem is, the Muslims, Jews and Christians did not see this and they still believed (and continue to believe in some cases) that The Curse of Ham was and is a justification to despise a race of people, and for why slaves could be taken from Africa as part of the Atlantic Slave Trade (and Arabic slave trading which existed before that). Looking from a mainly Christian perspective we see the following issues with this:

    1. From evaluation of scripture the curse never took effect or at the very least was “broken”, or perhaps proved not to be in effect when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt to the sons of Ham (specifically Cush), this was at least 25 generations later, so much later than the fourth generation to which God’s curses extend to.
    2. The slave trade happened 1,500 years after Messiah Yahshua preached the gospel of repentance and forgiveness, which would also be at least 3,500 years after The Curse of Ham was uttered.
    3. The bible says not to mistreat slaves (Ephesians 6:9).
    4. The bible condemns nations that enslave others (Amos 1:6).
    5. The bible says slave traders will not enter the kingdom of God (1 Timothy 1:10).

Yet European churches, even though they had over a thousand years to learn, still misinterpreted scripture to the damnation of those that participated in slavery unrepented; which has destroyed the lives of many millions of people, instituting a system that to this day holds people in spiritual, mental, social, economic and even physical captivity. Even so, staues of slave traders and streets named after them are present in colonial countries as if they are truly proud of this heritage.

One could ask, when the church has already been compromised by this kind of activity, had or have churches in themselves become little more than temples of a kind of idolatry, ignoring the rules God set in place and the encouragement to holiness the scriptures contain, and rather worshipping God by man-made rules which give the appearance of holiness outwardly, encompassing the ceremony and procedure of holiness, but in reality are void of the spiritual presence which demonstrates God’s power, or the spiritual practice that demonstrates an understanding of God’s nature as expressed in the Holy scriptures?

The Europeans that say black people are subject to The Curse of Ham, so when you look closely at the rest of their ideology must therefore believe that they are sons of Shem and Japheth (ultimately Israel and the northern tribes), otherwise they would have had no remit to enslave black people in line with their distorted view of this scripture. This is the error which gives rise to Ephraimite ideology (as well as British Israelism and other pseudoarchaeological beliefs). It is also those same types of ideologies are behind the far-right-wing groups that oppose authority in the USA and other parts of the world.

However, ironically, the scriptures say we should submit to all authorities 1 Peter 2:13, and marks those who despise authority as false teachers 2 Peter 2:10. People like David Koresh (Waco disaster), and Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma bombing), are examples of people with unsound doctrines had links with far-right literature such as “The Turner Diaries” – the staple diet of the Aryan Nation in the USA and anti-authoritatianism. This book depicts a revolution, a resulting race war and a nuclear war.

It comes as no surprise to me, that these types of ideology find sympathy with some former and existing members of Donald Trump’s cabinet as America tries to align itself with Israel. Here the schizophrenic nature of far-right, “Two House”, “Ephraimite” ideology takes another sinister turn, for although the far-right and Nazi’s hate black people, immigrants and in context Jews, they in reality claim to be Jews of the northern tribes fulfilling Abrahamic promises, or otherwise see themselves as a chosen people (herrenvolk – master race), and this ideology has underpinned their historical exploits in colonising various parts of the world, and was the basis for their vision to create a “New Jerusalem”. That misplaced Puritan zeal recognises a heaven on earth for European white people only, even to the extent of asking if Yahshua walked the pleasant land of England.

European people hate to be reminded of the fact that today when many of them complain about immigration, America (North, Central and South), Australia, South Africa, indeed whole swathes of the planet have been forcibly colonised by them and shaped by their colonial slave trading exploits (note Babylon makes merchandise of even the souls of men Rev 18:13), and they hate to see how scripture also points out their deeds as evil. Nevertheless, Europeans claim to hold the moral high ground over other nations, even though it is clear that their continued fake wars over human rights and weapons of mass destruction are nothing more than cover for a growing military industrial complex and fighting for control of resources. Even here, skin colour is another is another factor in their assumed superiority. Examine the spirit and type of actions of the Kasdim (Babylonians) in the scripture below:

“Look around among the nations!
What you see will completely astound you!
For what is going to be done in your days
you will not believe, even when you are told.
I am raising up the Kasdim,
that bitter and impetuous nation,
who march far and wide over the earth
to seize homes that are not their own.
Fearsome and dreadful they are;
their rules and strength come from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at night.
Their cavalry gallop in from afar,
flying like vultures rushing to feed.
All of them come for violence,
their faces set eagerly forward,
scooping up captives like sand.
They scoff at kings;
princes they deride.
They laugh at any fortress;
they pile up earth and take it.
Then they sweep on like the wind,
but they become guilty,
because they make their strength their god.”
(Habakkuk 1:5–11 – Complete Jewish Bible).

This may have referenced the Babylonians of old, but as scripture says”what has been will be again” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and that the Babylon of Revelation chapter 17 is a “Mystery”, and therefore not likely to be the Babylon of old. What spirit do you see on earth right now that behaves like that? What has colonialisation done to this planet?

The devil is described as “masquerading as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), that which appears to be beautiful, right, but is in fact wrong, that which appears to be good, but is in fact wicked.

There can be a way which seems right to a person, but at its end are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12, CJB).

How is it possible for a race of people who have caused so much pain, death and destruction on the earth, colonised and over-run nations, raped the earth of its resources, consumed so much they can’t control their waste; those who cultivate conflict, misinformation, lies, owning arsenals of weapons that could destroy the whole planet many times over, can claim the moral high ground for anything?

We know such nations are never punished for their atrocities, The African (Black) Holocaust, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, but they will always play their part at the judge and jury for the sins of other nations. The longer this hypocrisy remains unchallenged, the more this unjust system that Europeans have implemented on the world will become ingrained and cause further damage to countries and races devalued by their agenda and beliefs.

Unlike the Jewish Holocaust, the hatred and prejudice against black people hasn’t lasted a short span of time and then seen black people integrated fully within society and readily accepted at all social levels and in all professions. This isn’t to say Jewish people are not without persecution from their neighbours or in a continual state of unease with Arab nations around them, and even treated with disrespect and hatred in many European nations as well as the USA. However, Israel hasn’t been colonised to the degree that other nations strip it of its wealth and leave the indigenous people in poverty, Jews never had forty years let alone four centuries worth of slavery in modern times, followed by or Jim Crow or Segregation – in fact Jews had deliverance from slavery with the mighty arm of God.

Jews don’t commonly live in ghettos throughout their diaspora, Jews are not subject to the ideology of racism that on that most primitive level assumes the guilt of a black person just for being black and going about their daily business, for if a Jewish person were assumed to be guilty for a crime you couldn’t necessarily tell they were Jewish just by looking at them and so associate them with guilt in that same manner that you can when you look at a black person and know instantly they are black. It is people’s ignorance, hatred and greed which has manifested itself in a false teaching that has played a major part in beguiling black people into the positions we all-too-often find ourselves in today. Let’s see how Paul deals with false teaching for gain in scripture:

“For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk. They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons”— and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or to the commands of people who reject the truth.
To all who are themselves pure, everything is pure. But to those who are defiled and without trust, nothing is pure—even their minds and consciences have been defiled. They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.” Complete Jewish Bible (Titus 1:10–16).

I would describe the Muslim, Jewish and Christian interpretations of The Curse of ham as an example of “worthless and misleading talk” referred to in the scripture above in terms of it being a misleading reading of scripture which has been taught for over a millennia, and more than upsetting entire households, this teaching has disenfranchised and subjugated a whole race of people for that timeframe, and has negatively affected the way other races have interacted with us, giving rise to further sin and injustice upon black people, for example:

  • The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade
  • Exploitation of Africa
  • Social stigma for being black
  • Ghettoization of black people in the diaspora
  • Black people feeling a lack of self-worth, a lack of education and opportunity making crime seem viable
  • Over-criminalisation of petty crimes
  • Criminalisation where no crime is present
  • Social exclusion and limited
  • The Prison Industrial Complex
  • Institutional racism
  • Black people refusing to accept that their is any truth in Christianity because of the example of Christians.
  • Disenfranchisement of voting rights
  • Poor health-care
  • Poor schooling
  • Being denied a voice

There has been plenty of dishonest gain yielded from slavery in the past, however the continued economic exploitation of Africa perpetuates this injustice and takes away the ability of Africa to thrive. We have witnesses that large foreign companies pay little or no tax for the resources that they take from African countries, so the means for Africa to support itself dwindles. This coupled with the wars often financed by foreign powers who sell or gives arms to create instability and makes Africa seem like it has no hope. Then foreign countries play the “good samaritan” by giving aid, overlooking the fact that they are giving with one hand only a fraction of what they exploit with the other.

I believe Africans, those in the land and in The Diaspora look on situations like this with despair, looking at our homeland, we are caught between a rock and a hard place.

One doesn’t have to have an outward system of apartheid if the system that has been established imbues bias intrinsically. People, morso in the past, but even in the present day have been arguing about an apology for slavery and even reparations. Is an apology repentance? Paying people money can’t bring back the slain, the lost lives, the lives that couldn’t meet their full potential. Money can’t undo the disruption to families, communities and societies, can never repair the paralysed civilisations that have never fully recovered from the brutality of colonialisation and slavery. Money can’t recover the wealth of nations cheated and exploited into subjugation and relentlessly dominated, money can never make up for the past that didn’t have a chance to be the way people of colour or would or could have lived it, without the nefarious intervention of outsiders bent on conquest and callous ruthlessness.

But this issue isn’t all one-sided and affecting only people of colour, because the knock on effects of the false teaching that led to the wicked institution of slavery (which hasn’t been repented of), are that the society that springs from this will forever contain the seed of that transgression, and by nature create a dysfunctional unnatural society that grows from it. Just like Pharoah, those that have led our world, the kings, queens, rulers, politicians, administrators, clergy, military and others, will not give up the people, they will not free people of colour from the yolk, they won’t set us free, they will not expose the truth, they will not practice justice, they won’t let the unjust gain go, they are hardened to a course of action that is wrong, but one day, what now apparently tastes now so sweet, will turn out to be very bitter indeed.

Look what is said about the Cretans’ in the scripture above “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons”, and how similar things have been said about black people in some quarters today, and especially historically. Paul who wrote this scripture says the people who say such things should be rebuked sharply, and we can take his example here as a pattern for how to respond to any misleading scriptural interpretation around erroneous stereotypes of people. The scripture goes on to talk about Judaistic myths, and again, I would say that the Two House/Ephraimite ideology is a Jewish myth clung to by some sections of the European church. The final part of this scripture reveals a stark truth, because people who know God know that we are all made in his image, the heart, righteousness, emotions, the mind, rational thinking; all that God created is good, black, white, and all shades in between – to the pure all things are pure. But, to the defiled, nothing is pure, they cannot see the goodness of God’s creation in other people, because they can’t see the goodness of God’s creation in themselves, yet they deceive themselves by claiming to know God, when their actions show something quite different.

Again, Paul writes about who the true believers war is against.

For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Complete Jewish Bible (Eph 6:12)

As believers, we shouldn’t think that all is good in this world, and that we are trouble-free, we have to be on our guard. There is a war going on between the powers of good, and the powers of evil. Evil doesn’t have to kill your body to win a war, it only has to trick you, perhaps by enslaving your mind. Thus evil teachings that become cemented in the church, such as The Curse of Ham have had a far-reaching effect, and have served to build up a spiritual principality that has thrived on deceit and has built a society based on:

  1. Force and brutality
  2. Ignorance presented as knowledge
  3. Misplaced zeal
  4. Hatred based on external appearances and racial origin
  5. Grounds for exploitation based on the above
  6. Avarice, greed, land and resource grabbing
  7. False teachings and unrepentance
  8. Creating a social underclass
  9. Deceiving people to accept, explain away, or tolerate teachings which are a lie

Satan has many devices formed with the intention to prevent us from achieving our full potential, and I firmly believe racism is one of them, it is a device that defames God’s creation, fills one set of people with disillusionment, hurt and anger, and another set with unjustified pride.

From the perspective of people of colour we need an “African Reset”, for like a computer that has gone wrong, Africa has been running in an unstable way for many hundreds of years. We need a reboot to effectively reset our bearings and make progress, to pivot to a way of interpreting, reasoning, understanding and practice which correctly identifies the role of people of colour within this world, free of the constraints of ignorance and hate. This will involve things like:

  • Re-assessing spiritual knowledge with self-determination and a mind for enlightenment, rather than being sheep destined for subjugation and control
  • Unity and Pan-Africanism
  • Legally challenging every usurping of African resource that can be challenged and taking ownership wherever possible
  • Creating better laws to manage foreign ownership
  • Finding sustainable solutions for the transition of foreign ownership to indigenous people
  • Showing our plans for what we would do with wealth that is currently being taken away
  • Fighting corruption in African societies without partiality or mercy
  • Purging irreligious and satanic practice
  • Education
  • A new court system to arbitrate between nations and set the records straight so that all people can live with dignity
  • Contextualising the past and the nefarious effects of economic, political, cultural and spiritual imperialism, and asserting an alternative view of history.
  • Reject the cultural dominance of Europeans
  • Reject economic and medical dependency on foreign systems
  • Establishing better relations between black business & trade, educational and spiritual centres, creating our own network that values itself and assess value fairly, rather than be devalued end exploited, even if those networks are to some degree closed to the greater part of society
  • Have a plan for the diaspora that wishes to return to Africa.

I will expand on these areas and outline a plan in part two of this essay. Rest assured when people of colour across the world actually wake up, when the scales are taken away from their eyes, when they learn anew the truth instead of believing a lie, things are gonna change! Spread the word and educate others.

Why I don’t go to church

This is from an online discussion where I was asked why I do not go to church. There are several reasons and they are complex.

I don’t go to church because I consider the church to be too rooted in Paganism and tradition. This is something that I felt convicted of even as a young child, but I attended church because of my parents’ wishes – we attended a Baptist church back then, and I can’t say I didn’t feel happy there, and I can’t say I didn’t feel love there, but there was something missing. In my teens I stopped going to church because I was refused communion because I was a child, and also because I asked why the church and Jewish people worshipped on different days (considering Ephesians 2:16, Ephesians 4:3-6) and the answer I received didn’t make sense. I had lots of questions, and not enough answers that made sense. I returned to the same church in my mid 20’s and the same questions presented themselves to me, but the right answers never came, so I moved on to a Seventh Day Adventist church (which wasn’t hugely different) before moving to a Messianic Congregation which I liked (apart from the liturgy) but was quite a drive from my home.

Paganism:
Christmas and Easter are festivals not spoken of in scripture, the apostles didn’t keep them, they are pagan replacements or additions to biblically correct observance: https://www.anthony-ewers.me/the-origins-of-christmas/

Easter is in line with the Vernal Equinox, it’s a replacement of Passover – I need to do another blog post or article on that one.

Tradition:
I see both the present day and historical leadership of the church, even back to “The Early Church Fathers” as modern day Pharisees. Yahshua said this about them:

“‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (Mark 7:6-9).

It’s important to note that it was the way the law was presented, side-stepped, partially applied and perverted by those who claimed to be teachers of it at that time that Yahshua despised, not the law itself (note Matthew 5:17-20).

There is also the time as a child I was told by my girlfriend (sometime in the early 80’s) that black people had been allowed to be slaves because of the bible, namely “The Curse of Ham” (Genesis 9). That got me thinking about Trans-Atlantic slavery and the consequences that affect black people to this day. God’s curse on people who do not obey his commands lasts 4 generations (Exodus 20:5/6), so if Noah’s curse on his descendent Ham did come to pass and was somehow more permanent than God’s, it is therefore strange that the Israelites were actually enslaved to sons of Ham (Egypt – Exodus 1 etc) before their deliverance from Egypt, and this happened approximately 800 – 900 years after the flood according to scripture. So why after all that, scripturally, The Curse of Ham should then have been used by Christians several millennia later as a reason to justify the enslavement of black people seems to be rather tenuous at best. Scripture says slave traders will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Timothy 1:10), yet many denominations of the Christian church participated in slavery, owned slaves and were even compensated for loss of those slaves who were deemed to be “property” when slavery was abolished.

If I began making a cake and put in arsenic rather than almonds, I would have to throw that cake away and start again. If I were building a house and I built off line distorting the original plan and design, I would have to tear that part of the building down and rebuild. But as proof that many churches haven’t learned they were using the wrong spiritual ingredients and perhaps not building their church according to the foundation and plan God required, there are churches who refused (and continue to refuse) to allow black people into the ministry or priesthood, and movements like British Israelism and its offshoot Christian Identity (who feed off false teachings like “The Curse of Ham”). These movements want to assert that Anglo Saxons, the British, Scottish, German and Nordic peoples are the rightful heirs of the promises god gave to Israel, they focus on tenuous etymological links between words and twist biblical scriptures out of context in order to give them the reason to purge native peoples from their homelands and make people slaves. The Christian Identity movement in particular is extreme, it views people who are non-white as having no soul, not being human, a different species only fit only to be slaves. The literature of these movements such as “The Turner Diaries” gave rise to the tactics and lifestyle of the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh and they underpin the views and life-styles of racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

Essentially I see Europeanised Christianity as a corrupt vine, that doesn’t just distort scripture and harm black people, it also gives white people a false sense of superiority. It traps everyone in an illusion of ardent faith, but you have to remember what Paul wrote:

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

What I mean by quoting that is, if the devil masquerades as something good, we have to be really careful about what we consider to be good, and for me, the ONLY clarity that can be gained on that is from God’s word, so I reject Church tradition, new unwritten commandments and anything that tries to pigeonhole me into a box where I serve in some kind of underclass in society because of the colour of my skin.

I’m Messianic to a degree, but the current occupants of Israel are not much different to the Nazi’s who persecuted the Jews in WW2 judging by the way Israel treats Palestine, and any non-Jewish person wishing to live in Israel’s biblically prescribed territory. I’m not pro-Israel in this sense, which Messianic people tend to be. I don’t currently keep Old Covenant feasts or much in the way of custom, but rather I’m at a stage where I have rejected Christian customs and want to find the right place where I feel faith is correctly defined and practiced.

I don’t know if my reply is what you would expect, and I in no way mean to offend, it’s just that I feel if you are not aware of stuff in this world yourself and are not telling others, I feel you are sleepwalking in a living nightmare. Ignorance just isn’t bliss.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Africans evicted from Israel

“He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You are to fear ADONAI your God, serve him, cling to him and swear by his name.” Deuteronomy 10:18–20 Complete Jewish Bible.

Judaism teaches love for foreigners that enter Israel, we could term these people as immigrants or refugees or however we see them. In these case the law of God seems to put the onus on the “foreigner” to follow the ways of God and for Israel to accept the foreigner and not discriminate against them.

What we term as Christianity reaches out to people to a greater degree, there is more of an active energy involved with reaching out to people and inviting them into the community of believers, but this is a spiritual community, rather than a physical community.

It’s such a pity that in Israel that application of the law is partial, there is an emphasis on national identity in the sense of something that needs to be guarded so that it is not lost, instead of a more transcendent identity that outsiders (foreigners) can share and help to edify the whole community.

Outside of Israel, within the Church, application of the law is even more partial, but there is the notion of this transcendent identity which can embrace others and bring them into a community.

I don’t think any religious community has the interpretation of God’s word right, either those in Israel or outside of it, and neither myself, but as an outsider looking in, for I am neither in Israel physically or part of a church, I can basically see that no matter what ways in which we misinterpret God’s law or are partial in our application of it, the end result is the same – division, pride, prejudice, corruption and injustice.

I would say there is wisdom enough in the world for us to do better at achieving God’s righteous standards, but the evil in the world is winning over the good, and the more it does so, the deeper we slip into a dystopian reality – it’s not in the future – it is here and now, and has actually been around for a long time.

Decorations on christmas tree at night

The Origins of Christmas

YAHSHUA (JESUS) SAID:
“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding onto the traditions of men.” (Mark 7:8)

My main intention in producing this leaflet, is to expand the Christian (“Believer’s”, follower of “The Way’s”) knowledge about the festival of Christmas, and to get them to consider if it is really a festival that honours the Son of Yah (“God”) whom we claim to worship. I also hope that the reader will be able to use this leaflet as a basis for further study, in order to take a closer look at the customs, ritual and history of a festival that we accept as being appropriate, that perhaps is not.

Does this sound at all familiar?

Hear the word ADONAI speaks to you,
house of Isra’el!
Here is what ADONAI says:
“Don’t learn the way of the Goyim,
don’t be frightened by astrological signs,
even if the Goyim are afraid of them;
for the customs of the peoples are nothing.
They cut down a tree in the forest;
a craftsman works it with his axe;
they deck it with silver and gold.
They fix it with hammer and nails,
so that it won’t move.  (Jeremiah 10:1-3 CJB).

Christmas

The anniversary of the birth of Messiah (Christ) and its observance. The date of the birth of Messiah is not known. Celebrated by most Protestants and by Roman Catholics on December 25, by Eastern Orthodox churches on January 6, and by the Armenian Church on January 19. The first mention of its observance on December 25 is in the time of Constantine, c. A.D. 325. The word Christmas is formed of Christ plus Mass, meaning a religious service in commemoration of the birth of Messiah. It seems clear that the early Believers did not observe Christmas, in fact they still observed Passover (note the “Quartodeciman Passover/Easter Controversy“). However, once the observance of Christmas introduced it spread throughout Christendom. Some Believer groups disapprove of the festival. (Q: Is there a command in the bible that shows Christmas is to be celebrated? Is Christmas shown to be celebrated at all in the bible? Notice that Yahshua’s disciples were not Greek and a closer form of English to what they actually called our saviour would be Messiah or Yahshua).

Christmas Decorations

Christmas Decorations

MITHRAISM

The cult of Mithras, a Persian sun god, the worship of which reached Rome in or about A.D. 69. Based on the trials, sufferings, and exploits of Mithras, the cult appealed to soldiers. December 25 was the chief feast of Mithras, and in fixing on that date for Christmas, the early church sought to overlay both the Mithraic festival and the Saturnalia (see below). Christianity triumphed over Mithraism because of its written records of a historic Messiah, and its associated body of doctrine adapted for preaching, evangelism, and the needs of every day. Christianity, too, was universal, excluding neither woman, child, nor slave. It preached salvation by faith and demanded no stern ordeals. (Q: Should the worship of Messiah be confused and entangled with the worship of any other God or even a person mythical or otherwise?).

Sat-ur-na-li-a: [Saturnalis of Saturn] 1: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn, held about Dec. 17, with general feasting and revelry in celebration of the winter solstice (see below) 2: any period or occasion of unrestrained, often orgiastic, revelry. (Note 1 Peter 4:1-5, Ephesians 5:15-20, & Numbers chapter 25.)

Druids

Druids

Sol-stice: [Sol] the sun + [sistere], to stare, to STAND. SUMMER/WINTER SOLSTICES.

This scripture forbids the worship of the sun, moon and stars etc, things that the Pagan Solstices are closely linked with: And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars–all the heavenly array–do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven (Deuteronomy 4:19).

This scripture forbids divination, astrology, and human sacrifice, things that the Druids and heathens practice:” Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.” (Based on Deuteronomy 18:9-13. To review the conflict that exists between the worshipers of God, and those who worship created things see: Daniel Chapters 2-5, Isaiah chapter 47, note verse 13, & 59:5-8 – ‘vipers’, ‘egg’ – could this passage refer to the practices of the DRUIDS? Also see Romans 1:21-25.)

Q’s: Is Christmas an example of a ‘Believers’ festival that actually has links with pagan religion which God hates? Believers’ festivals are such because God has commanded them to be kept. If we as Believers join in celebrating a festival that God has not commanded, which the heathen use to promote practices which are contrary to the desire of God; aren’t we yoking ourselves with them to some degree by giving that festival a kind of legitimacy? Paul writes: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Messiah and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18, & note 1 Corinthians 10:18-22, 1 Timothy 4:7, & 2 Timothy 4:3&4.)

Santa Claus

Santa Claus

YAHSHUA SAID:
“These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (Mark 7:6-9, & note Deuteronomy 4:2)

BIBLE NOTES ON MARK CHAPTER 7 VERSE 8:
the commands of God . . . the traditions of men. Yahshua clearly contrasts the two. God’s commands are found in Scripture and are binding; the traditions of the elders (and our own traditions e.g. Christmas and Easter) – (v. 3) are not Biblical and therefore not authoritative or binding. Consider, the only ordinance Yahshua said we should keep in remembrance of him is ‘communion’. Also consider Yahshua’s words “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” – (based on John 8:58), and Colossians 1:15-20. When was Messiah actually ‘born’? Is any celebration of his birth really something that we can truly understand? (See Luke 22:14-23, note 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.)

THE ATTITUDES WE HAVE TOWARD FEASTING AND GIVING:

If giving presents is an act of love, Yahshua said: “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:46&47. Also see Revelation 11:1-14 note verse 10). The same could be said of feasts, for Yahshua said: “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke chapter 14:12-14, & note Matthew 23:1-7).

Q’s: Why should it require a special season of the year to be generous to people? Is this tokenism? Is it possible that Christmas represents a kind of sincerity and good intention, which is actually not in keeping with the ideals and commands and spirit of the person (i.e. Yahshua Messiah) that Christmas is supposed to celebrate?

Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards

EXCESS, CHEATING AND HYPOCRISY:

The drunkenness and overeating that generally goes on at Christmas is perhaps symbolic of two things; the first being the drunkenness of spirit that permits conformity to false beliefs, the second being the desire to be filled with the pleasures of this world. One could argue that the food and drink that the heathen devour are symbolic of their union with Satan, in a similar manner that a Believer’s union with Messiah is represented by festivals like the Passover (Pesach) meal.

At Christmas the prices of goods go up, and in the hustle and bustle to buy, people can seem blind or indifferent to the fact that they are often being conned. Minds are focused on the next big consumer desire rather than on Messiah. People who are hard pressed all year perhaps get a few days of work with extra and/or early pay, perhaps given as an encouragement for them to join in with the tide of consumer excess and celebrate a festival with little scriptural validity that will profit them little. At seasons end they return to the same old routine, knowing nothing further of the true riches of godliness. Can this really be Messiah‘s desire for this Laodicean world? (Note Hosea 12:7&8, Amos 8:5, Ecclesiastes 5:11, and consider Revelation 3:14-22 and the concept of a ‘Laodicean world‘).

Many will celebrate the birth of Messiah at Christmas and worship him as a ‘little babe’, but these same people do not regard so highly the teachings and lifestyle that Messiah taught as a man. The truth is that it is not the birth of Messiah alone that saves us, we have to follow his teaching (including baptism), and recognise and celebrate the power of his death and resurrection daily, to truly embrace the hope of eternal life.

BACKWARD AND PARTIAL THINKING

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes to a group of Believers who had made a break from Pagan religion (See Galatians 4:8-11). In this passage Paul is rebuking the Galatians for turning back to their old principles of pagan worship (noting we are in Messiah permanently, not just for a season). Could the same passage of scripture be applied today to Believers who mix pure Believer’s teachings as found in the bible, with symbols and practices from Pagan rites and festivals? What could the effects of this mixing and compromise be?

In the past, when you did not know God, you served as slaves beings which in reality are non-gods. But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more? You observe special days, months, seasons and years! I fear for you that my work among you has been wasted! (Galatians 4:8–11 CJB).

Look at that scripture clearly, some translations use the word “sabbath”, but this is a generalisation of a rest days, don’t be confused by that. Firstly remember Paul was speaking to Gentiles, not Jews. The Gentiles have never known the Elohim (“God”) of Israel.  The key then is in verse 8 “when you did not know God”, this is referring to the condition these Gentiles were in before they knew Yah. The served “gods” note the plural! Note the following:

“Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one…” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

Israel was not to worship a collective of “gods” or even any other “god” other than Yah. Paul is talking about the rest and feast days, and seasons associated with pagan worship. Don’t let Christian pastors pull the wool over your eyes and fool you that Paul was against keeping the commands of Yah. For if Paul was really against this, then he would not have kept Sabbaths Acts 18:1-4, and Passover 1 Cor 5:8.  People wake up!

List of Scriptures

1) Note 1 Peter 4:1-5, Ephesians 5:15-20, & Numbers chapter 25.
2) Deuteronomy 4:19.
3) Based on Deuteronomy 18:9-13. To review the conflict that exists between the worshippers of God, and those who worship created things see: Daniel Chapters 2-5, Isaiah chapter 47, note verse 13, & 59:5-8 – ‘vipers’, ‘egg’ – could this passage refer to the practices of the DRUIDS? Also see Romans 1:21-25.
4) 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, & note 1 Corinthians 10:18-22, 1 Timothy 4:7, & 2 Timothy 4:3&4.
5) Mark 7:6-9, & note Deuteronomy 4:2.
6) See Luke 22:14-23, note 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.
7) Matthew 5:46&47. Also see Revelation 11:1-14 note verse 10.
8) Luke chapter 14:12-14, & note Matthew 23:1-7.
9) Note Hosea 12:7&8, Amos 8:5, Ecclesiastes 5:11, and consider Revelation 3:14-22 and the concept of a ‘Laodicean world‘.
NOTE: All boxed excerpts are from: ‘Brewer’s Concise Phrase & Fable’. 16 ed. © 2000 Published by Cassell & Co, ISBN 0-304-35725-1

PAMPHLET VERSION: The Origins Of Christmas

Freedom of speech and hate speech

21) The tongue has power over life and death; those who indulge it must eat its fruit. Complete Jewish Bible: Pr 18:21

36) Moreover, I tell you this: on the Day of Judgment people will have to give account for every careless word they have spoken; 37) for by your own words you will be acquitted, and by your own words you will be condemned.” Complete Jewish Bible: Mt 12:36–37

I’ve got no problem with free speech, people should be able to say whatever they want. What I do have a problem with is ignorance, and the opinions that breed from ignorance and are despised by the majority of decent people.

People who are filled with hate actually need to be heard, so that their opinions can be brought down by public debate, and if the public doesn’t have the strength, will or intellect to add clarity to a situation be a rebuttal that educates those that hear it, that is a failure on the part of those that should defend what is right, and a triumph for those who proclaim what is evil.

This debate tells me that society is losing its mental capacity not only to ensure people get a proper education for those that fall beneath the net, because I believe many problems that manifest in hate speech are born of ignorance and reflect a mental deficiency which after generations who pass through that same conditioning can become a genetic flaw; but also, in the general level of education for those who do not fall below the net, and who do not indulge in hate speech, who are stunned and shocked but are somehow lacking the ability to formulate the speech to counteract hate filled language.

See the debate on Al Jazeera here