Christmas tree -- vestige from Babylonian worship

Most of the world celebrates the 'man of sin' unconcsiously in metaphors and thru the RCC thru Christmas and Easter.

Very soon, the world will consciously celebrate the 'revealing of the son of perdition' who is Magnificent in Beauty to the world.

he coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness. 2 Thess ch2

You have it in a nutshell. And these blind guides can be an influence on new Christians. When I flat out proved him wrong with Scripture about the tree being an idol he goes further down the road, now using Nazis to push his propaganda. The plain message for me, that I have said, is that a Christmas tree is not an idol. But these dogmatic legalists just jump around when they are proved wrong. They always want to be the teacher, they refuse to listen. We had a man in our church like this. He went through 4 wives. Why? Because he was listening to his friend who claimed to be a "prophet". He was blind and actually needed a wife but he couldn't keep one because he was paranoid. His friend would cast derision and suspicion on his wives, saying they had spirits and they were cheating on him. He was in his 70s, his last wife was as faithful as an old dog. He was hateful to her, suspicious, accused her of robbing him and sleeping around. smh All because his prophet friend said so. He was so horrific to his last wife that she had to leave him. He died last week, alone, from cancer. Sad state but he refused to listen. His wife was heartbroken. Blind guides, leading the blind.

Anyone who has studied scripture is aware of this. Christmas is a western civilization tradition and yes it is celebrated as secular and religiously. That doesn’t mean as Christians we would should abstain from it.

here is an interesting passage from Leviticus 23

39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

the use of trees, green foliage from palm trees and leafy tree and willows were employed in one of the feasts ordained by God to the Israelites

they were to rejoice before God using the above as instruments in their worship...for seven days

huh

i do not judge what others do with Christmas and Easter. This thread, which is not mine by the way, is about Member ZNP sharing factual info about the christian/pagan combo holidays that are embellished by RCC and most of the world.

As a former RCC and now a Believer in Christ and His Word, i accept the info of this Thread = that's it = PEACE to YOU is Christ.

true. I know you have been very active in church as have I

both of us have served God in the ministries He gave us and both of us have seen plenty...you share more about that than do I

I have been a member here for about 5 years or so I think...obviously not my first profile, and in that time, the number of self proclaimed prophetic types always do the same thing...they cause alot of trouble...they hurt people and demand respect and that people listen to them. they become nasty when confronted about their spiritual abuse and often will basically 'curse' people by threatening or post a verse that is in keeping with their mindset, that they use as a rebuke, as though they were God

we also have the cult types...like Oneness and so on.

these people are amateur self taught individuals who believe they are 'special' and have special privileges before God when we are all actually equal in God's eyes. this is a common occurrence actually and I have seen it in church, home Bible studies and all over this forum.

it's like the man you speak of in your post and the false prophet that had power over him. when a person accepts a lie, and there is an evil spirit behind it, that lie has power over them and will work through them to deceive others as they have been deceived themselves

families, marriages and other relationships, in fact entire churches, have been ripped apart by people with demonic power who call themselves Christians. you just described such a case and I have seen a number myself.

I could go on and on and on about what I have seen and experiences I have had. I have come out of the Christian school of hard knocks which I suffered in because I was so trusting and believed that if a person said they were a Christian I believed them

well, God is about saving people...not destroying people....He is merciful and gracious and sent His Son to take our punishment so that He can receive us to Himself. so let everyone be aware that when a person is going about gossiping, or giving advice no one has asked for, or saying 'God told me to tell you, or speaking evil of the pastor or other leaders, that this is the person we are told to have nothing to do with

anyway....

AMEN = Now compare that to Jeremiah ch10.

There are always false copies of what is Truth = does this offend you? Will you hate me for saying this?

Not one single judging of you here = Not one = Is it wrong for me to love you in Christ and post this?

OP nobody hates you its just you might be mistaken about the orgins of christmas trees.

Have you ever grown one? You might want to talk to a christmas tree farmer and ask where they get them from.

Blind leading the blind. False teacher, false prophet, proven wrong with Scripture.

Fair enough, we are charged to be ready to contend for the faith, so then we will dive into the word.

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

The evidence is quite strong that Jude was the brother of Jesus just as James was and yet he doesn't make that claim. You can imagine a false prophet not bringing that up? I find it very instructive that neither James nor Jude try to use their relationship in the flesh to Jesus to give them some special standing. Likewise they both make it clear that they are servants of the Lord Jesus.

To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

Called -- 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8 gives us 5 things: Foreknew and predestinated (Abraham), Called (Isaac), Justified (Jacob) and glorified (Joseph).

We can see these five in the structure of the children of Abraham. We are children of Abraham, children of the promise. I consider this to be the first correlation between the book of Jude, Revelation 12, the lord's birth in Luke and Christmas. By the time we finish Jude we will see an amazing number of connections.

loved in God -- 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

These verses by the Lord describe what it means to be loved in God and what it means to be loved even as God loved the Lord. Think about it, the birth of the man child will be "just as" the Lord's birth. Their birth will be so that the world may believe. No doubt this refers to the testimony of saints who have been reborn over the last two thousand years. However, it also seems reasonable that it could refer to the rapture as an event, just like Jesus birth, that could spark a marvelous revival.

Kept for Jesus Christ -- We are talking about the bride of Christ who keeps herself as a virgin. No other epistle uses this term, it refers to watchful care. It is a direct reference to the Lord charging us to watch for His return and the word in greek actually means 'continually kept". This is not once for all. This word is used for Peter when he was 'kept' in prison, confined. It is also used concerning our heavenly inheritance which is kept for us. This word is used again in this epistle when it says the fallen angels kept not their first estate. The idea is that we are constantly vigilant to watch and keep ourselves from falling but that the lord will also work together with us to keep us. The concept here is a direct contradiction to the "once saved always saved" doctrine going around now that we don't need to worry about sin. The word is also used for the church in Philadelphia where it says "He will keep us from the hour of trial". This verse indicates the Lord is keeping us, verse 21 tells us we need to keep ourselves. 1Thessalonians 5:3 says we are kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord and savior.

We are not "kept for Santa". The whole "he knows if you've been bad or good" is just another deceit used to mock the Christians.

2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Mercy is a direct reference to judgement and "the royal law" in James. Jesus said "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". James interprets that to mean that we are to treat others with mercy since we also want to be judged with mercy. What a contrast with the celebration of Santa version of Christmas. Grace is getting what you don't deserve, Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Mercy implies we are a failure and so we need God's grace and mercy. The whole Santa "gospel" is that you get what you deserve and if you are bad you had better watch out. No mercy with Santa.

Peace -- this is a big term during Christmas, "Peace on earth and good will towards man". We have peace through Jesus Christ. However, there is no peace for the wicked Isaiah 57:21.

Love -- This is the mark of the saints, the way in which the world identifies us. Everyone is talking about the mark of the beast, well we also have a mark and it is love.

These three terms all point to the Lord's coming. We are praying for mercy, we are not worrying about anything but praying about everything and trusting that we will be kept from the hour of trial. And like Philadelphia we are keeping the Lord's command to love others as ourselves.

But this also leads us into the discussion of the apostasy. Where does it begin? With Ephesus losing their first love. Next they lose their peace. Finally if they are completely apostate they treat others without mercy like Jezebel and the inquisition.

Incidentally all these elements show up in the birth of Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees had lost their first love, they knew Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem but didn't so much as go to see. However, hearing about His birth caused everyone in the city to lose their peace and they responded without mercy, killing the 2,000 kids.

Contending for the Faith

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.

Dear Friends is also translated Beloved. This epistle is written "to the beloved", to the Bride that will be raptured prior to the tribulation.

This verse reveals that his original intention was to write about the common salvation, kind of like sharing the gospel about Jesus being born of a virgin and giving a typical Christmas message. However there was a divine compulsion on him that changed the direction of this letter. This term we translate as "compelled" is used in Acts to say that Jesus was compelled to suffer and die on the cross. This term is also used by Paul who says he is compelled to preach the gospel and woe to him if he doesn't.

Urge you to contend for the faith -- that is the theme of the letter. The challenge that you and I are being given.

Contend for the faith is to agonize on, to strenuously labor on the faith. This is an active military word (do not confuse it with contentious that is a different word). In may respects this refers back to the Lord telling us to watch and Paul telling us to watch because wolves will sneak in, and the warnings concerning the apostasy and the falling away and the heaping up of teachers for their itching ears, and giving heed to fables and old wives tales. To be an unflinching witness is an example of contending for the faith. Standing against those who deny or compromise with the whole counsel of God is another example of contending for the faith. The book of Galatians where Paul stood against "another gospel" is an example of contending for the faith.

We can see this in the celebration of Christmas. It begins with an unflinching testimony that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, that He is God with us. We then stand against all those who would mix this message with a compromised mixture of fables and old wives tales. Something they have mixed up into "another gospel" which isn't a gospel at all.

He doesn't tell us to contend for the gospel, he doesn't say to contend for salvation, he says contend for the faith. For example Paul says to examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. We must check, the things I am doing am I doing them out of faith? Did I pray about them? Did they originate with the word of God?

We need to prove that we are in the faith. In other words faith is more than believing. When you go through a trial by faith you prove your faith. Abraham offering up Isaac proved his faith. The apostasy departs from the faith. Faithful teaching established the church. We are all instructed to stand fast in the faith.

So the faith is where the battle takes place. The apostasy is trying to peel you away from the faith. The apostasy is based on extra biblical teachings, cleverly devised myths. Think about Halloween, Christmas and Easter. Notice in every case they appeal to children. In every case parents are shamed into letting their kids participate otherwise they are "the grinch" who stole Christmas.

Deuteronomy 4:2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

Revelation 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

We need to prove that we are in the faith. In other words faith is more than believing. When you go through a trial by faith you prove your faith. Abraham offering up Isaac proved his faith. The apostasy departs from the faith. Faithful teaching established the church. We are all instructed to stand fast in the faith.