Christmas tree -- vestige from Babylonian worship

[SophieT]

you know how you like to post Jeremiah 10 as your proof of a tree in the house being forbidden or an idol?

well, you conveniently leave out verses 1 and 2 which speak to exactly what you do with your signs of Nibiru and your Jewish mystics

1Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2This is what the LORD says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations

or be terrified by the signs in the heavens,

though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

why do you look at the heavens and tremble with the news of a planet going to crash into the earth when scripture speaks of no such ting? why do you encourage others to study what has led you astray and try to cause fear of some great planetary catastrophe that is not going to happen?

you do what you tell others not to do.

no, you are not waiting for the rapture and thinking you will miss it all like you say. big news: Christians need to go through some persecution to cause them to look to God and not signs in the heavens

God purifies hearts. people fear mongering and using the OT like a sledge hammer are not employed by the Holy Spirit since their actions are the opposite of a Christians hope in God

 

[DavidTree]

What was it that brought you out of Roman Catholicism? You don’t have to answer, I’m just curious.

The TRUTH that i sin CHRIST

 

[DavidTree]

Jer. 10 isn't talking about a Christmas tree.

Christmas Trees are beautiful - i remember vividly how we would decorate them with silver and gold tinsel and the lights, angel on top,
the ornaments and candy canes hanging.

Our Christmas tree would be so thickly decorated that you did not see much green.

The aroma of the Pine needles were awesome.

You love Christmas and all that - fine, i do not judge anyone on that. i do know what it is about and who started it and for what purpose. That has been judged by the Lord for HE alone judges the hearts and weighs the motives and plans of man.

i greatly enjoy the information brought forth by those who have studied the origins of traditions to see where those roots came from.

PEACE

 

[DavidTree]

What was it that brought you out of Roman Catholicism? You don’t have to answer, I’m just curious.

TYPO on Post #262

Should read as : The TRUTH that is in CHRIST

 

[ZNP]

False believers who have secretly slipped in

4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

There are subversives in our midst, that is not up for discussion, that is what Jude tells us. What are they doing? They are trying to peel us away from the fait by either denying the words of the Bible, either by taking something away or by adding something to it. In bried there are tares among the wheat. The sower sows the word of God, an enemy sows the weeds among the wheat. This is why the book is written.

Paul says the same thing. Galatians 2:4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.

Think about that, the goal is not simply to peel you away from the faith but to make you slaves. What is the very clear and obvious goal of the world's celebration of Christmas? To make everyone go out and buy junk, to be a slave of this economy. Once again this isn't up for debate, we are told repeatedly in the gospels and the epistles that wolves will come in among the sheep. This is particularly true in the latter times. Enoch, the father of Methuselah warned us of this.

Apostasy is not simply error or even getting tangled up in a heresy. It signifies a rejection of the truth of God. The examples are Judas, Cain, Balaam and Korah. These four are Biblical examples of apostates, false prophets. Think about that, we have had apostates since Cain and Abel. All of the world was founded by an apostate.

These people have "secretly slipped in beside you". They are ungodly, like Cain. The world was started by Cain, he had a mark on him, he was a murderer. He is out to annul the word of God. This is what the world has done with Christmas becoming Xmas. They could care less about the babe of Bethlehem, in fact they eliminate all of that because "it could offend some". All they care about is having kids sit on Santa's lap and beg their parents for junk being sold at the store. Look at the Thanksgiving day parade, they are not celebrating the birth of Jesus. Ungodly means they don't have a reverential awe of God. That describes the world. They have the form but deny the power. They will take various "Props" like these floats in the parade, they'll put up a poster that says "Peace and good will" but they will refuse to put up anything about Jesus Christ, the power of our celebration. They are happy to have the outward appearance of celebrating the Lord without the inward reality.

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Did you catch that? They are accusing Jesus of being a bastard. This is what the world thinks of Jesus birth. Don't tell me that the world is celebrating Jesus birth at Christmas. These guys are supposed to be religious leaders and yet Jesus says they don't know God.

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

They are descended from Cain. The whole Santa claus story is a lie, the ones who came up with this it was easy, like speaking their native language, the whole thing comes from a liar, and the father of lies.

They will pervert the grace of God like Balaam. Read Balaam and he was legitimately a prophet of God who knows God's word but he perverted it. He thought that he would sell his ability to speak God's word to the highest bidder and instead of using it to build up he would use it to destroy. They push this celebration as a "Christian celebration" when in fact it is a thinly veiled Saturnalia celebration. Balaam taught the believers to commit fornication and idol worship. He teaches that grace allows you to do anything, doesn't matter whereas Titus tells us the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Loyalty to anything other than the word of God perverts the grace of God.

And they deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ just like Korah who rebelled against Moses. Some of us are pointing out that the Christmas tree is not in the Bible, it is not in our covenant with God and that this is a pagan practice. We are saying this is strange fire that they have.

 

[tourist]

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home. Shew, I think that did the trick!

Beats riding in a out of control hot air balloon with a crackpot.

 

[tourist]

I got my tree up. YAY. I love Christmas. And you know what Paul would have love it too. He would see it as an opportunity. He would become all things to all men so he could win some and Christmas is a perfect time of the year to “win souls”.

Unfortunately my Dad made our Christmas so miserable. He was always in conflict with it being a pagan holiday and he made it all a living hell for all of us. Almost all the gifts went back to the store, or he would take what we got and wanted them for himself. After his passing, then we had the best times. Even our birthdays meant something now.

When I see these negative posts about Christmas, I think of Dad and his constant conflict and how I used to be caught up in all the negativity too. I was become a miserable cantankerous young coot. I am free from that and give thanks now in all things.

Merry Christmas everyone.

And God bless us everyone!

 

[gb9]

False believers who have secretly slipped in

4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

There are subversives in our midst, that is not up for discussion, that is what Jude tells us. What are they doing? They are trying to peel us away from the fait by either denying the words of the Bible, either by taking something away or by adding something to it. In bried there are tares among the wheat. The sower sows the word of God, an enemy sows the weeds among the wheat. This is why the book is written.

Paul says the same thing. Galatians 2:4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.

Think about that, the goal is not simply to peel you away from the faith but to make you slaves. What is the very clear and obvious goal of the world's celebration of Christmas? To make everyone go out and buy junk, to be a slave of this economy. Once again this isn't up for debate, we are told repeatedly in the gospels and the epistles that wolves will come in among the sheep. This is particularly true in the latter times. Enoch, the father of Methuselah warned us of this.

Apostasy is not simply error or even getting tangled up in a heresy. It signifies a rejection of the truth of God. The examples are Judas, Cain, Balaam and Korah. These four are Biblical examples of apostates, false prophets. Think about that, we have had apostates since Cain and Abel. All of the world was founded by an apostate.

These people have "secretly slipped in beside you". They are ungodly, like Cain. The world was started by Cain, he had a mark on him, he was a murderer. He is out to annul the word of God. This is what the world has done with Christmas becoming Xmas. They could care less about the babe of Bethlehem, in fact they eliminate all of that because "it could offend some". All they care about is having kids sit on Santa's lap and beg their parents for junk being sold at the store. Look at the Thanksgiving day parade, they are not celebrating the birth of Jesus. Ungodly means they don't have a reverential awe of God. That describes the world. They have the form but deny the power. They will take various "Props" like these floats in the parade, they'll put up a poster that says "Peace and good will" but they will refuse to put up anything about Jesus Christ, the power of our celebration. They are happy to have the outward appearance of celebrating the Lord without the inward reality.

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Did you catch that? They are accusing Jesus of being a bastard. This is what the world thinks of Jesus birth. Don't tell me that the world is celebrating Jesus birth at Christmas. These guys are supposed to be religious leaders and yet Jesus says they don't know God.

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

They are descended from Cain. The whole Santa claus story is a lie, the ones who came up with this it was easy, like speaking their native language, the whole thing comes from a liar, and the father of lies.

They will pervert the grace of God like Balaam. Read Balaam and he was legitimately a prophet of God who knows God's word but he perverted it. He thought that he would sell his ability to speak God's word to the highest bidder and instead of using it to build up he would use it to destroy. They push this celebration as a "Christian celebration" when in fact it is a thinly veiled Saturnalia celebration. Balaam taught the believers to commit fornication and idol worship. He teaches that grace allows you to do anything, doesn't matter whereas Titus tells us the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Loyalty to anything other than the word of God perverts the grace of God.

And they deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ just like Korah who rebelled against Moses. Some of us are pointing out that the Christmas tree is not in the Bible, it is not in our covenant with God and that this is a pagan practice. We are saying this is strange fire that they have.

so, you are saying that having a Christmas tree is equal to denying Christ.

well, that certainly sound reasonable...

or not.

 

[Blain]

You know maybe it's just me but I am always full of the Christmas spirit around this time of year, I am full of joy and excitement and love to see everyone enjoy their family traditions each family having their own unique one and to see the little children have fun decorating the Christmas tree playing in the snow and passing out near the fire at the end of the day worn out from all the fun and happiness this season brings.
I am very intuned to the spirits voice and never once did he ever give me any sense that christmas trees are evil in any way if he did I would feel very uneasy around them.

You can find evidence of the occult anywhere if you dig deep enough even celebrating your birthday had roots to the occult but it's not what it was once used for but what we make it that is the difference.
Maybe it has occult roots most things do you would be surprised how deep their fingers go into our everyday life but honestly as far as the trees or even Christmas goes I use them and celebrate them as it is supposed to be a good cup of cheer and remembering the birth of Christ

 

[Gardenias]

#CS1 "NOW we are Nazi's LOL hahaha I think you are a liberal snowflake LOL I bet you think we can stop the weather too huh?" (Taken from CS1 post #184)

Post #141
This is a picture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who brought this practice to England and based on this it spread to the British Empire.

Several people on this thread have pointed out that the modern Christmas tree dates back to a Germanic practice, which is historically accurate.

I have simply pointed out that the Germanic practice was part of worship to Odin and was therefore also idolatrous whether or not you realize the practice dates all the way back to Babylon, doesn't matter.

If you choose to educate yourself and read the link I provided you will see a distinct comparison between the current movement to remove Christ from Christmas with what the Nazi's did.

You CAN NOT remove Christ from something he was NEVER a part of anyway!

He didn't come to give presents nor fairytales of jolly benevolent fat men giving presents. He came to give mankind the GIFT of Salvation and life!

Your premise for this thread was done in rebuttal to someone else's thread.

 

[Gardenias]

My assertion is that Santa is an anagram for Satan.

Anagram -- a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another

Since you admit that is the case your post is both hilarious and idiotic. Thank you for the laugh.

LoL.....can you also make a pie out of poop like in the movie " The Help"?


We can and do make mountains out of mole hills.

 

[tourist]

You know maybe it's just me but I am always full of the Christmas spirit around this time of year, I am full of joy and excitement and love to see everyone enjoy their family traditions each family having their own unique one and to see the little children have fun decorating the Christmas tree playing in the snow and passing out near the fire at the end of the day worn out from all the fun and happiness this season brings.
I am very intuned to the spirits voice and never once did he ever give me any sense that christmas trees are evil in any way if he did I would feel very uneasy around them.

You can find evidence of the occult anywhere if you dig deep enough even celebrating your birthday had roots to the occult but it's not what it was once used for but what we make it that is the difference.
Maybe it has occult roots most things do you would be surprised how deep their fingers go into our everyday life but honestly as far as the trees or even Christmas goes I use them and celebrate them as it is supposed to be a good cup of cheer and remembering the birth of Christ

You keep your Christmas Spirit my friend and I will try to be less of a Scrooge.

 

[Gardenias]

Ahh !! Now one is a Nazi if they have a Christmas tree. I proved the tree was not an idol, and you twisted Scripture. You didn't even take a beat. Now we're to believe that Nazis are truth tellers. Now having a Christmas tree is akin to being a Nazi. You're nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake.

 

[AworkINprogress]

And God bless us everyone!

And God Bless You.

There are some verses that stick with me when it comes to my liberty in Christ.

The first one is giving thanks in ALL things for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.

The second is “hast thou faith, then have it to thyself alone, blessed is he that condemned not himself in the thing which he alloweth”.

Of course, everyone will jump on me because they will say that Paul was talking about meat being served to idols and eating them. I’ve stretched my mind to include more things because in our day we do not sacrifice literal animals to idols.

If Christmas is an idol to some, then I will have it to myself before God and with my family because we do not feel condemned for doing so.

Christmas to us is about the birth of Jesus Christ, whenever that was, it doesn’t matter.

However, for the brother down the street who doesn’t believe in it, we just say to him, “Bah Humbug”. 😂 And he is happy being miserable while his wife tries to eat the humble pie.

My favourite song at Christmas is Oh Holy Night. Like this organ favourite. Always reminds of an altar call.

Hmm, I copied and pasted oh holy night but I got Ava Maria instead, oh well, I love this too.

 

[ZNP]

so, you are saying that having a Christmas tree is equal to denying Christ.

well, that certainly sound reasonable...

or not.

Thanks for asking.

A specific heresy -- Be Careful what you pray for

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

Do you remember the amazing delivery of Israel from all kinds of enemies in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy? Pillar of fire, Pillar of cloud, the Red Sea parts, the Earth splits and swallows up the rebellious. 1 million leave Egypt, 2 made it into the good land. It was an 11 day journey that took 38 years. Were those 1 million who didn't make it, were they saved? What is the issue? Apostasy, falling away, the destruction that comes upon them because of that.

Read the history and it is very clear, God reserves the right to destroy that people if they become guilty of certain forms of unbelief, or other sins to which unbelief leads. Now we can certainly remember the Lord's promise that we shall never perish and no man shall pluck us out of the Lord's hand. It is the same Bible and the same God. You can have eternal security and still suffer destruction.

Those Israelites who were destroyed had eaten the Passover, they had put the blood on the doorpost and they passed through the Red Sea typifying the waters of baptism. Repeatedly God calls them "my people". Now there were some who snuck in there, the "mixed multitude" so it is reasonable to think that not all, not 100% were saved, but the vast majority were. Remember of all those who crossed the Red Sea none ended up back in Egypt.

So then to understand the unbelief that caused them to be destroyed we have to turn to Numbers 14. The spies come back with an evil report and they lift up their voice and cry "would to God that we had died in the land of Egypt or in this wilderness"! God responds "as you have spoken in my ears so will I do to you"! Their destruction in the wilderness was an answer to their prayer! In their prayer they say their little ones were going to be a prey so God says all those you said would be a prey, them I will bring in.

Paul, the same guy who said we are saved by grace, and we are justified by faith, this same guy said "Now all these things happened unto them for ensample: and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come". Nothing in scripture is extraneous. Everything is for our learning. So I ask you if we were to look at the Israelites in the wilderness would it be the 999,998 that were celebrating Christmas according to the world or was it the 2 (Caleb and Joshua) who were and the 999,998 were saying no way? Who was crying about we can't follow God because our children will become a prey? Some will argue that there was nothing in the OT about Christmas. Well Paul says "with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were for our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted". OK, no "Christmas" in the wilderness. Do we have "evil things" in the celebration of Christmas? Any chance God was not well pleased with some of this?

There are a lot of types in this story: Egypt a type of the world, Pharaoh a type of the Devil and his armies, Moses a type of Christ, Red Sea a type of the Baptism, Manna a type of the bread of life. So what do you think the destruction of all these Israelites who were destroyed due to unbelief is? Jude tells us clearly it is a type of the apostasy. The people who were overthrown were out of Egypt but not in Canaan. Look at the seven churches and especially at Sardis, a name that you are alive and yet you are dead.

Returning to Paul's word -- "we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted, neither should we become idolaters as it is written they sat down to eat and drink they rose up to play. The New Testament tells us to flee from idolatry. John tells us to keep ourselves from idols. An idol is anything that you put between you and the Lord, anything that displaces the Lord. Once again, let's ask, how many of the Israelites were involved in Idolatry? Moses and Joshua weren't, but apart from them who wasn't? Who wasn't involved in the golden calf idolatry? Neither commit fornication -- Novels, movies, cable TV, modern music is all involved in fornication. Consider those who died by being bitten by the snakes. They said they loathed the manna, that was the word of God that we need for our daily sustenance. If they had been in the word daily they would not have been bitten by the fiery serpents. Think about Christians today who got the jab and now regret it. I wonder what their time in the word was like prior to that?

What is the lesson? We are under constant attack from the great serpent and the word protects us. Once the church leaves the word of God they open themselves up to attack. The only cure is to look on the crucified Jesus.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall

In Revelation they stand on the glassy sea. The laver where we wash in the word is called a glassy sea. The word that we wash up in is also the word that we stand on.

 

[ZNP]

Your premise for this thread was done in rebuttal to someone else's thread.

No, the premise was not a rebuttal. For some reason no one has been able to grasp the premise.

I am not interested in the whole "put Christ back into Christmas' debate, i think that is stupid and it certainly was not the premise of this debate. Nor am i interested in whether or not you celebrate Christmas or how you celebrate it, that is between you and the Lord.

The Premise of this thread

What I am interested in is a worldwide celebration of Jesus birth on a day we know he wasn't born as a holy convocation (rehearsal) for some event in the future (Pauls says the feast days are a shadow of things to come and although the celebration of Christmas on December 24th is not a Biblical assignment I do believe all things are under the Lord's sovereignty). Not only so but this holy convocation where we remember the story of Jesus birth recorded in Luke is paired with a lie, the absurd story of Santa Claus, elves working at the North pole, flying reindeer, and all the rest. One half is holy, sweet, and beautiful, the other half is crass commercialism at its worst, a delusion put upon the world for all those who do not love the truth. A lie designed to teach small kids to associate the Bible with lies and fairy tales. Many small children will actually think that these stories about Santa Claus are in the Bible somewhere.

Now I am not interested in undoing what has already been done. The whole world has this celebration, my question is why, what future event is this a shadow of? The Lord said His coming would be as a thief in the night and this story describes a thief in the night coming into your house. In many respects it is like an Alfred Hitchcock movie where you are warned that it will be in your house as you put up your tree and your stockings and mistletoe.

 

[ZNP]

Either you believe God is sovereign or you believe in Coincidences.

The winter solstice is December 22nd and they would bring the Christmas tree in and decorate it in order to celebrate the birthday of a Babylonian deity that signifies the AntiChrist.

So Christmas Eve we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the next day they celebrate the birth of the Antichrist and the Christmas tree is a symbol of that birth because where this deity was killed by a boar and bled out an evergreen tree grew up which is why they use this tree.

What are we rehearsing? The birth of the man child who is caught up to heaven followed by the birth of the Antichrist.

This is the premise of this thread, it is the second post, the first is simply a link to a Bible message on Christmas which discusses the pagan origins of some of the practices.

 

[Gardenias]

No, the premise was not a rebuttal. For some reason no one has been able to grasp the premise.

I am not interested in the whole "put Christ back into Christmas' debate, i think that is stupid and it certainly was not the premise of this debate. Nor am i interested in whether or not you celebrate Christmas or how you celebrate it, that is between you and the Lord.

The Premise of this thread

What I am interested in is a worldwide celebration of Jesus birth on a day we know he wasn't born as a holy convocation (rehearsal) for some event in the future (Pauls says the feast days are a shadow of things to come and although the celebration of Christmas on December 24th is not a Biblical assignment I do believe all things are under the Lord's sovereignty). Not only so but this holy convocation where we remember the story of Jesus birth recorded in Luke is paired with a lie, the absurd story of Santa Claus, elves working at the North pole, flying reindeer, and all the rest. One half is holy, sweet, and beautiful, the other half is crass commercialism at its worst, a delusion put upon the world for all those who do not love the truth. A lie designed to teach small kids to associate the Bible with lies and fairy tales. Many small children will actually think that these stories about Santa Claus are in the Bible somewhere.

Now I am not interested in undoing what has already been done. The whole world has this celebration, my question is why, what future event is this a shadow of? The Lord said His coming would be as a thief in the night and this story describes a thief in the night coming into your house. In many respects it is like an Alfred Hitchcock movie where you are warned that it will be in your house as you put up your tree and your stockings and mistletoe.

Why then are you so bizarre in your contrasting of things?

I never have told my children the lie of Santa but told them we give and receive gifts bc the wise men gave gifts to Jesus. Although when they found him he was a toddler of about 2 and not a babe in a manger!

However the decorations,the happy spirit of, the looking back over the old year and forward to a new one DOES NOT make christians apostates,Nazis, reprobates or take them in any way ,away from God.

This holiday at the closing of a year in a life and looking forward toward a new beginnitng isn't bad nor sinful.

Furthermore,I don't think anything new or profound has been revealed by this thread. Instead I would say it's made us all a little GRINCHY!

 

[Gardenias]

This is the premise of this thread, it is the second post, the first is simply a link to a Bible message on Christmas which discusses the pagan origins of some of the practices.

I have read this whole thread as it's progressed and nothing good has come of it.

Discuss how the children of Bethlehem were the first martyrs for Christ then. Perhaps the symbolance of the gifts given for Jesus to Joseph and Mary. There is also the reason why the angels appeared to the shepherds first with the message...ECT ECT........

Not picking on you really but your more than this.

 

[gb9]

Thanks for asking.

A specific heresy -- Be Careful what you pray for

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

Do you remember the amazing delivery of Israel from all kinds of enemies in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy? Pillar of fire, Pillar of cloud, the Red Sea parts, the Earth splits and swallows up the rebellious. 1 million leave Egypt, 2 made it into the good land. It was an 11 day journey that took 38 years. Were those 1 million who didn't make it, were they saved? What is the issue? Apostasy, falling away, the destruction that comes upon them because of that.

Read the history and it is very clear, God reserves the right to destroy that people if they become guilty of certain forms of unbelief, or other sins to which unbelief leads. Now we can certainly remember the Lord's promise that we shall never perish and no man shall pluck us out of the Lord's hand. It is the same Bible and the same God. You can have eternal security and still suffer destruction.

Those Israelites who were destroyed had eaten the Passover, they had put the blood on the doorpost and they passed through the Red Sea typifying the waters of baptism. Repeatedly God calls them "my people". Now there were some who snuck in there, the "mixed multitude" so it is reasonable to think that not all, not 100% were saved, but the vast majority were. Remember of all those who crossed the Red Sea none ended up back in Egypt.

So then to understand the unbelief that caused them to be destroyed we have to turn to Numbers 14. The spies come back with an evil report and they lift up their voice and cry "would to God that we had died in the land of Egypt or in this wilderness"! God responds "as you have spoken in my ears so will I do to you"! Their destruction in the wilderness was an answer to their prayer! In their prayer they say their little ones were going to be a prey so God says all those you said would be a prey, them I will bring in.

Paul, the same guy who said we are saved by grace, and we are justified by faith, this same guy said "Now all these things happened unto them for ensample: and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come". Nothing in scripture is extraneous. Everything is for our learning. So I ask you if we were to look at the Israelites in the wilderness would it be the 999,998 that were celebrating Christmas according to the world or was it the 2 (Caleb and Joshua) who were and the 999,998 were saying no way? Who was crying about we can't follow God because our children will become a prey? Some will argue that there was nothing in the OT about Christmas. Well Paul says "with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were for our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted". OK, no "Christmas" in the wilderness. Do we have "evil things" in the celebration of Christmas? Any chance God was not well pleased with some of this?

There are a lot of types in this story: Egypt a type of the world, Pharaoh a type of the Devil and his armies, Moses a type of Christ, Red Sea a type of the Baptism, Manna a type of the bread of life. So what do you think the destruction of all these Israelites who were destroyed due to unbelief is? Jude tells us clearly it is a type of the apostasy. The people who were overthrown were out of Egypt but not in Canaan. Look at the seven churches and especially at Sardis, a name that you are alive and yet you are dead.

Returning to Paul's word -- "we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted, neither should we become idolaters as it is written they sat down to eat and drink they rose up to play. The New Testament tells us to flee from idolatry. John tells us to keep ourselves from idols. An idol is anything that you put between you and the Lord, anything that displaces the Lord. Once again, let's ask, how many of the Israelites were involved in Idolatry? Moses and Joshua weren't, but apart from them who wasn't? Who wasn't involved in the golden calf idolatry? Neither commit fornication -- Novels, movies, cable TV, modern music is all involved in fornication. Consider those who died by being bitten by the snakes. They said they loathed the manna, that was the word of God that we need for our daily sustenance. If they had been in the word daily they would not have been bitten by the fiery serpents. Think about Christians today who got the jab and now regret it. I wonder what their time in the word was like prior to that?

What is the lesson? We are under constant attack from the great serpent and the word protects us. Once the church leaves the word of God they open themselves up to attack. The only cure is to look on the crucified Jesus.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall

In Revelation they stand on the glassy sea. The laver where we wash in the word is called a glassy sea. The word that we wash up in is also the word that we stand on.

and this has what to do with a Christmas tree??