Friday, November 30, 2012

Was There Really "No Room in the Inn"?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the biblical take on Christmas. This follows this post about cocaine in Europe. This follows this post about  abondoned children.  For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

Was There Really "No Room in the Inn"?





article by Mario Seiglie , Tom Robinson





Most have taken for granted Jesus' nativity story as commonly related - that when Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem there was no room in an inn so Mary ended up giving birth to Jesus in a stable. But is this the true account in Scripture? See for yourself!







The Greek word translated "inn" in Luke 2:7 refers to a guest room.



Source: Scott Ashley/Explorations in Antiquity Center, LaGrange, GA.A typical translation of Luke 2:7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.



See All... says about Mary giving birth to Jesus, "And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" (New King James Version).



We've grown up hearing the account that the "inn" in Bethlehem was full, with no "room" available, so Joseph and Mary ended up in a stable, with Jesus Christ born and laid in a manger there. This image has been used to promote the typical Christmas nativity scene for generations. Yet a careful analysis of the biblical text reveals quite a different story!



Not an inn but a guest room

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the Greek word translated "inn" here is kataluma. It means a place of rest, usually a guest room. In fact, the same writer Luke uses this very word later where it clearly refers to a guest room and not an inn. Notice Luke 22:11And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?



See All..., where Jesus said to His disciples, "Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "'Where is the guest room [ kataluma ] where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"'" (emphasis added throughout).



Furthermore, Luke elsewhere in his Gospel uses a different Greek word when he writes about an actual inn— not the word kataluma. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus mentions that the injured man in the story was taken to an inn—and here Luke translates using the Greek word pandokheion, the normal word for an inn. We read this in Luke 10:34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.



See All..., where the kind Samaritan set the injured man "on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him."



Interestingly, the Arabic and Syriac versions of the New Testament, which reflect more of a Middle Eastern context, have never translated kataluma as meaning an inn, but instead as a guest room. As Kenneth Bailey, a Middle Eastern and New Testament scholar points out, "This translation [of the word as 'inn'] is a product of our Western heritage" ("The Manger and the Inn: The Cultural Background of Luke 2:7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.



See All...," Bible and Spade, Fall 2007, p. 103).



In addition, Young's Literal Translation uses the term "guest-chamber" instead of an inn. It says: "And she brought forth her son—the first-born, and wrapped him up, and laid him down in the manger, because there was not for them a place in the guest-chamber ."



Note also the word here translated "place" or "room." In the context of "inn," most assume this is referring to an individual room ("no room in the inn"), yet even inns of that time did not often have individual rooms. The reference is simply to space. What Luke is telling us is that there was not enough room, or enough space, for them in the guest room.



The linguistic evidence shows that Luke used the term kataluma to mean not an inn, but the guest room— indeed, "the" guest room (the definite article is used) of a particular house.



Historical factors

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, after pointing out that the word kataluma is used elsewhere in the Gospels for the guest chamber of a private home, comments: "Was the 'inn' at Bethlehem, where Joseph and Mary sought a night's lodging, an upper guest room in a private home or some kind of public place for travelers? The question cannot be answered with certainty. It is thought by some that it may have been a guest chamber provided by the community. We know that visitors to the annual feasts in Jerusalem were entertained in the guest rooms of private homes" (1982, Vol. 2, "Inn," p. 826).



Another factor that powerfully argues against this term meaning an inn is that these places were not appropriate to giving birth to a child. Inns at that time were far from anything like typical motels or hotels we might think of today. "Generally speaking, inns had a bad reputation . . . This ill repute of public inns, together with the Semitic spirit of hospitality, led the Jews and the early Christians to recommend the keeping of an open house for the benefit of strangers" (ibid.).



Besides, for commercial reasons inns were usually found along the major roads. Yet Bethlehem was a small town in the upper mountains of Judea, and no major Roman road is known to have passed through it. Since it seems to have been an insignificant village at the time, it's doubtful that an inn even existed there then.



This gives yet more reason to realize that what Luke really wrote is that there was no room in the guest chamber. Certainly, due to the Roman census being taken at the time and the huge number of people traveling to their birthplaces, available space in the guest quarters was scarce.



So the question then becomes: Does that mean Joseph and Mary aimed to stay in someone's home but, since the guest room was full, were turned out into the night to a stable? When Mary was in labor? That might seem worse than being turned away from an inn. Of course, both scenarios seem rather terrible—certainly downright inhospitable, which is far out of line from the way things were at that time.



A culture of hospitality and honoring kinship

In Christ's day, hospitality to visitors among the Jews was essential, based on biblical example and law. In Deuteronomy 10:19Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.



See All..., God told the Israelites to "love the stranger." And Leviticus 19:33And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.



See All... stated, "If a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him." Denial of hospitality was shown throughout Scripture to be an outrage. Hospitality toward visitors is still important throughout the Middle East.



Moreover, since Bethlehem was Joseph's ancestral home, he probably had relatives there. And being a descendant of King David, whose hometown this was, he would have been highly respected upon his arrival. Think of a descendant of George Washington coming to his hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, after a long lapse of time. The townspeople would've shown him respect.



As Bailey explains: "[My] thirty-year experience with villagers in the Middle East is that the intensity of honor shown to the passing guest is still very much in force, especially when it is a returning son of the village who is seeking shelter. We have observed cases where a complete village has turned out in a great celebration to greet a young man who has suddenly arrived unannounced in the village, which his grandfather had left many years before" (p. 103).



It should also be pointed out that childbirth was a major event at that time. In a small village like Bethlehem, many neighboring women would have come to help in the birth. Bailey states: "In the case of a birth, the men will sit apart with the neighbors, but the room will be full of women assisting the midwife. A private home would have bedding, facilities for heating water and all that is required for any peasant birth" (p. 102).



What this all means is that it would have been unthinkable and an unimaginable insult and affront to societal decency for Joseph, a returning village son, and his laboring wife to need to seek shelter in an unsavory inn to have a baby of Davidic descent—and then, even worse, to be sent out to have the birth in a stable. This simply cannot be what happened. Nor can it be that they were sent out into the night from a private home.



So what actually happened?



Reading the text carefully

Regrettably, the birth of Christ is later overlaid with so much tradition and legend about Christmas that it's hard to let the biblical text speak for itself.



The common assumption is that Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem and, being hastened by her labor pains, rushed to an inn only to find it full with no vacancies, so they ended up in a stable where she gave birth.



However, a careful reading of the text shows us they had already been in Bethlehem for some days when she went into labor. Notice carefully Luke 2:4-6 [4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

[5] To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

[6] And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.





See All...: "Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered."



Consequently, they must have already been lodging somewhere in Bethlehem when her birth pangs began—and this was surely not a stable for a period of days. Could not Joseph have found a more suitable lodging place for his pregnant wife in that amount of time? Of course.



In fact, we should realize that not far from here dwelt Mary's cousin Elizabeth, whom Mary had lived with for a while during her pregnancy (Luke 1:39-40 [39] And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;

[40] And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.





See All...). If they were seeking a place to stay for days, why didn't they go to Elizabeth's house? The answer is simple. They found a house in which to stay in Bethlehem—probably that of Joseph's relatives.



And being in these accommodations already, it makes no sense for them to suddenly be out seeking a room in an inn or anywhere else at the time of Mary's labor.



Yet we might still be asking: So why were they sent out to a stable? The answer is, they weren't.



Birth in a house, not a stable

The Archaeological Study Bible offers some helpful background: "The 'manger' was the feeding trough of the animals. This is the only indication that Jesus was born in a stable. Very early tradition suggests that his birthplace was a cave, perhaps being used as a stable.



" Justin Martyr in the second century A.D. stated that Jesus' birth took place in a cave close to the village. Over this traditional manger site the emperor Constantine (A.D. 330) and his mother, Helena, constructed the Church of the Nativity" (2005, p. 1669).



Note that it is only the manger, an animal food or water trough, that gives any indication of a stable. And indeed a manger might well have been found in a stable. But it's important to realize that they were also to be found within first-century homes!



A typical Judean house of that day consisted of an area near the door, often with a dirt floor, where the family's animals were kept at night—so they wouldn't be stolen or preyed upon and so their body heat could help warm the home on cool nights. The family lived and slept in a raised part of the same room set back from the door. There was also usually a guest room either upstairs on a second floor or adjoining the family common room on the lower floor. Typically the lower area near the door had a manger for food and/or water for the animals.



Eric F.F. Bishop, an expert in Middle East culture, noted that the birth of Christ probably took place in "one of the Bethlehem houses with the lower section provided for the animals, with mangers 'hollowed in stone,' the dais [or raised area] being reserved for the family. Such a manger being immovable, filled with crushed straw, would do duty for a cradle. An infant might even be left in safety, especially if swaddled, when the mother was absent on temporary business" ( Jesus of Palestine, 1955, p. 42).



Yet another authority on Middle Eastern life, Gustaf Dalmann, stated: "In the East today the dwelling-place of man and beast is often in one and the same room. It is quite the usual thing among the peasants for the family to live, eat, and sleep on a kind of raised terrace . . . in the one room of the house, while the cattle, particularly donkeys and oxen, have their place below on the actual floor . . . near the door; this part sometimes is continued along under the terrace as a kind of low vault. On this floor the mangers are fixed, either to the floor, or to the wall, or at the edge of the terrace" ( Sacred Sites and Ways, 1935, p. 41).



This scene of an ox or donkey in the house at night might go against our Western sensibilities. Yet, as Bailey comments: "It is we in the West who have decided that life with these great gentle beasts is culturally unacceptable. The raised terrace on which the family ate, slept and lived was unsoiled by the animals, which were taken out each day and during which time the lower level was cleaned. Their presence was in no way offensive" (p. 105). Of course, the animals could have been taken outside when the actual birth was occurring.



Consider that the medium of En Dor whom King Saul sinfully consulted with "had a fatted calf in the house," which she killed to prepare a meal for Saul and his men (1 Samuel 28:24And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof:



See All...). It was more often the wealthy who had stables for their animals apart from the house.



Thus, a more realistic view of what occurred with Christ's birth according to the customs of the time is that the manger was in a house and not in a stable. It should be stated that this could conceivably have involved a cave, but that's only because some houses were built over caves. Yet this was not the norm. And the cave imagery may come from pagan myth about the Persian sun-god Mithras, who was supposedly born in a cave—along with the belief of some that Christ's birth had to have been in seclusion, as we will see.



The pieces fall into place

What we've seen so far explains a great deal.



Some might object that Mary and Joseph being accommodated in the family common room of a house instead of the guest room is itself inhospitable. But as Bailey points out: "No unkindness or lack of hospitality is implied when the Holy Family is taken into the main family room of the home in which they are entertained. The guest room is full. The host is not expected to ask prior guests . . . to leave. Such would be quite unthinkable and, in any case, unnecessary. The large family room is more appropriate in any case" (p. 104).



Indeed, considering all the women that would be going in and out of the room during the birth, having Mary stay in the main room would probably have seemed the wisest choice to everyone concerned. In fact, it's possible that Luke's mention of there being no room or space meant that this particular guest room was too small for all the birth activity.



Bailey continues in regard to understanding kataluma as meaning the guest room: "This option admirably fulfills both the linguistic requirements of the text and the cultural requirements of the village scene. This translation gives new understanding to the story of Jesus' birth. Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem. They find shelter with a family whose separate guest room is full [or too small], and are accommodated among the family in acceptable village style. The birth takes place there on the raised terrace of the family home, and the baby is laid in a manger . . .



"The (Palestinian) reader [of Luke's account] instinctively thinks, 'Manger—oh—they are in the main family room. Why not the guest room?' The author instinctively replies, 'Because there was no place for them in the guest room.' The reader concludes, 'Ah, yes—well, the family room is more appropriate anyway.' Thus, with the translation 'guest room,' all of the cultural, historical and linguistic pieces fall into place" (p. 104).



The reaction of the shepherds

Another element of the story that reinforces the picture here is that of the shepherds who received the announcement of the birth of the Savior, the Lord Messiah, and where to find Him that night from an angel (Luke 2:8-11 [8] And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

[9] And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

[10] And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

[11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.





See All...). As men of the lower ranks of society, they may not have felt they would be received well in visiting a king, but the angel told them that as a sign they would find the child lying in a manger (verse 12).



"That is," says Bailey in an insightful book he has written, "they would find the Christ child in an ordinary peasant home such as theirs. He was not in a governor's mansion or a wealthy merchant's guest room but in a simple two-room home like theirs" ( Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, 2008, p. 35).



Luke's account further states that the shepherds "came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger" (verse 16). On arriving they made "widely known" what had been announced to them (verse 17)—showing that there were many people there. And when they left, they went out "praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen" (verse 20).



Bailey points out: "The word all obviously included the quality of the hospitality that they witnessed on arrival. Clearly, they found the holy family in perfectly adequate accommodations, not in a dirty stable. If, on arrival, they had found a smelly stable, a frightened young mother and a desperate Joseph, they would have said, 'This is outrageous! Come home with us! Our women will take care of you!'



"Within five minutes the shepherds would have moved the little family to their own homes. The honor of the entire village would rest on their shoulders and they would have sensed their responsibility to do their duty. The fact that they walked out, without moving the young family, means that the shepherds felt they could not offer better hospitality than what had already been extended to them" (pp. 35-36, emphasis in original).



Where does this leave us?

So what are the implications of upending the traditional view of the Christmas nativity scene?



We should first ask, given the facts we've seen, why has there been such an insistence since early centuries that the birth setting of Christ was a stable or cave with no one around—perhaps even outside the town, as some have even contended?



Bailey reveals: "After reading a number of Arabic and Syriac fathers' writings on the question, one has the distinct feeling there is an unspoken subjective pressure to understand the birth as having taken place without witnesses because of the sacred nature of the 'mother of God' giving birth to the 'Son of God.'



"Even as the sacraments are consecrated in utter seclusion behind an altar screen, so the eyes of even the faithful might not look on the holy event, even so Middle Eastern Christology, Mariology and piety seem to combine to insist that the birth took place where no eye beheld the divine mystery" ("The Manger and the Inn," p. 105).



Yet this is a fiction straight out of ancient pagan mystery religion. The reality is quite different, as we've seen. While Jesus was conceived of God the Father through the Holy Spirit, His was nonetheless a typical birth for the common man of His day. Though begotten of God, He truly came as one of us.



As for the common tradition, Kenneth Bailey concludes: "We all face the enormous weight of church tradition which surrounds us with the 'no room at the inn' mythology. If our conclusions are valid, thousands of good Christmas sermons, plays, filmstrips, films, poems, songs and books will have to be discarded.



"But is the traditional myth of a lonely birth in a stable a help or a hindrance to the reality the text proclaims? Surely a more authentic cultural understanding enhances the meaning of the story, rather than diminishing it.



"Jesus was rejected at His birth by Herod, but the Bethlehem shepherds welcomed Him with great joy, as did the common people in later years. The city of David was true to its own, and the village community provided for Him. He was born among them, in the natural setting of the birth of any village boy, surrounded by helping hands and encouraging women's voices.



"For centuries Palestinian peasants have been born on the raised terraces of the one-room family homes. The birth of Jesus was no different. His incarnation was authentic. His birth most likely took place in the natural place for a peasant to be born—in a peasant home" (pp. 105-106).



Let's be thankful that we can examine the biblical text without the hidden biases of religious tradition—and that we don't have to prop up a wrong meaning of a term in order to keep alive the religious myths of Christmas.



The Bereans left us with a wonderful example on how we should base our faith. Luke commended them by saying in Acts 17:11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.



See All..., "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."



May we all do the same!

.

Jenny McCarthy Did What?: ABC’s Sick “Family Values”

A very interesting post from www.DebbieSchlussel.com about Jenny McCarthy and Extreme Makeover. This follows this post about the 2012 election. This follows this post about the movie "Red Dawn."   This follows this post about a race hoax at U.T. Austin.  This follows this post about Emmit Till. In the meantime, you can read a very interesting book HERE!

Jenny McCarthy Did What?: ABC’s Sick “Family Values”


By Debbie Schlussel



Last week, all-around bimbo, skank, porn star, and vaccine alarmist Jenny McCarthy bragged that she gave oral sex to a stranger at a truck stop for $20. But despite this disgusting revelation, ABC featured McCarthy on its family holiday show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Holiday Special.”



The Real McCarthyist Threat to America



Because that’s where we’re at in this country. These things don’t matter anymore. Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton became famous and made millions for doing porn movies. And, now, this low-life hooker, Jenny McCarthy, is a host on a family show just after Thanksgiving.



On top of that, the Extreme Makeover show, which typically rebuilds and remodels the decrepit home of a someone in need with a major sob story, was–this time around–all about building homes for “single mothers.” I can’t count how many times I heard phrases from the hosts, like “We really have to help the single mothers.”




Um, if you promote single motherhood on teen mom shows and build them palaces on home remodeling shows, you are rewarding them for their behavior. And you wonder why we have a rate of out of wedlock births in America approaching 50%.



If you make it glamorous, morons across America believe it’s glamorous and engage in the behavior.



But conservatives don’t care about this stuff anymore. They’ve given up on the culture war, and did so four years ago when they embraced Sarah Palin’s skanky babymama daughter, applauded Palin’s endless pimping of Bristol Palin, and helped make her a popular reality show star on “Dancing With the Stars” and so on. And so we’ve lost the culture war, because we’ve stopped fighting and accept this stuff.



Congrats, America! We’re done.





AMNESTY RED ALERT: Bill Filed and Illegals Move for Licenses and tuition in 3 states!

A very interesting post from www.Alipac.US about pro-amnesty actions in 3 States! This follows this post about Harry Reid and the GOP Senators' amnesty attempt.  This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more about what is happening in the nation now click here and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

Amnesty Red Alert: Bill Filed and Illegals Move for Licenses and tuition in 3 states!


by

ALIPAC

 The invasion supporters are trying to bum rush us and use the election results to gain more power over Americans. It is clear that their plans were made with elite support long before the votes were counted.



If you have not made your important calls (click here) to stop Harry Reid's power grab please do these quickly. Those of you who did call on Monday are having an impact as you can see in this article here where Mitch McConnell is fighting back with your encouragement.



Two traitors in the US Senate that are retiring, Republicans Jon Kyl and Kay Bailey Hutchison, have just filed an Amnesty bill for illegal aliens. We will move on this next Monday.



For today and the remainder of this week we need a full and rapid deployment to attempt to stop the illegal alien advance in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Illinois! WE NEED ALL ALIPAC ACTIVISTS FROM ALL STATES TO CONVERGE ON THESE THREE STATE EFFORTS!





Step 1: Dictatorship in Massachusetts establishes in-state tuition for illegals.



That's right folks, the Governor of Massachusetts is imitating dictator Obama and is exceeding his constitutional authority to give illegal aliens your child's seat in college while making you pay for it despite the fact that ALIPAC activists helped defeat that bill twice in his state already! He has done so by decree without legislation having passed. The citizens of Massachusetts are currently the first citizens to endure in-state tuition for illegal aliens by royal order.



Swing in to action.



Read and circulate this article

Dictatorship Emerges in Massachusetts: Governor Deval Patrick Gives Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition

http://www.alipac.us/content/dictato...-tuition-1140/







Then craft your own version of our sample message below



"I'm calling/writing to demand that the Massachusetts legislature take immediate action to stop and reprimand Governor Patrick Duval who seems to think he is some kind of dictator who can give our tax money to illegal aliens to put them through college without authorization by our elected officials in the legislature. I want lawmakers to act now to stop Deval's in-state tuition for illegal aliens and his abuse of power immediately!"



Remember to call in with your distinct and personalized message to as many of these targets as possible.



(Gov Deval Patrick

Massachusetts State House

Office of the Governor

Office of the Lt. Governor

Room 280

Boston, MA 02133

Tel: 617.725.4005

888.870.7770 (in state) )

Wash DC Tel: 202.624.7713

Fax: 202.624.7714

http://www.mass.gov/governor/constit...contact/#email





Massachusetts Legislature http://www.malegislature.gov







Step 2: Illegals asking for licenses by Executive Order in Rhode Island



Read and circulate

Chafee meets with protestors demanding drivers licenses for illegals

http://www.alipac.us/content/chafee-considering-decreeing-drivers-licenses-illegal-aliens-1127/



Draft your distinct version of our sample message then personalize it for each call and email.



"I'm calling/writing to ask _____ to oppose licenses for illegal aliens in Rhode Island as 77% of Americans do according to a national Rasmussen poll conducted in November of 2007. Illegal aliens should not receive any non-emergency taxpayer benefits including licenses. Forty Eight American states have intentionally stopped illegal aliens from receiving licenses and Governor Chafee does not need to reverse that progress by giving licenses to illegals without legislation that authorizes such a move."



Direct your message at



Gov. Chafee

Office of the Governor

82 Smith Street

Providence, RI 02903

Phone: (401) 222-2080

Email governor@governor.ri.gov



Rhode Island Legislature

http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/legislation/



Step 3: Illegals push for licenses in their Illinois stronghold.



From their power base in corrupt Chicago, illegals are pushing for licenses in Illinois hoping to gain traction. You can block their aggression with a large wave of calls and emails to the Illinois legislature.



Read and circulate



Illegal immigrants make push for licenses in Illinois

http://www.alipac.us/content/illegal...illinois-1141/





Sample Message



"I'm calling/writing to ask _____ to oppose licenses for illegal aliens in Illinois as 77% of American do according to a national Rasmussen poll conducted in November of 2007. Illegal aliens should not receive any non emergency taxpayer benefits including licenses. Forty Eight American states have intentionally stopped illegal aliens from receiving licenses and Illinois should not go against 77% of America's legal citizens and 47 other states to accommodate illegal immigrants!"



Targets



Illinois Legislature http://www.ilga.gov/

http://www.ilhousegop.org/ (Once in, click on Members, scroll down to your legislator, click on their link to the website and if they have an email address it will be to the right under Contacts).


http://housedem.state.il.us/index2.htm (At the top click on Legislators, select the legislator you need and it will give you their contact information).


http://www.senategop.state.il.us/ (Click on Meet your Senator, scroll to the legislator you need. On the next page, you may find their contact information).



http://www.senatedem.ilga.gov/  (Click on Senators, Alphabetical and then scroll to the legislator you need. On the next page, you may find their contact information).


http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx



It gets harder for us to make the impact we need when we are forced to address multiple targets with limited time and resources.



But we are playing deep defense right now and we do not always get to pick the timing or scale of our battles.



We can push back the illegal alien advance in each of these states if enough of you care enough to put in a few hours of volunteer work to stop them as we have before. If not enough of you respond to this email, the illegals may prevail and score another win giving them momentum for what they want next!



Please post any questions, feedback, or suggestions you have in the Announcements section of our forums at www.ALIPAC.us



Let's roll!



William Gheen and The ALIPAC Team

www.alipac.us


Thursday, November 29, 2012

European cocaine flow flourishing

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about cocaine in Europe. This follows this post about  abondoned children.  For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

World News and Trends: European cocaine flow flourishing



article by John Ross Schroeder, Melvin Rhodes





While U.S. cocaine use leveled off in recent years, the flow of the drug into Europe has nearly doubled—to 220 tons annually—in the last five years.



Although the United Stated remains the undisputed leading market for the drug, consuming an estimated 330 tons yearly, the increased flow into Europe worries European governments and law-enforcement agencies.



Europol, the European Union's police agency, estimates that 35 percent of Colombia's cocaine production found its way to EU nations, primarily through the Netherlands and Spain. In 1999 EU member nations seized 43 tons of the drug, an increase of 37 percent over the previous year. (Source: The New York Times .)

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Gaza, Catalonia and Romantic Nationalism

A very interesting post from www.Stratfor.com about about Catalonia and Gaza. This follows this post about Israel and Gaza.  This follows this article about American energy independence and preventing money from going to hostile countries such as Iran . For more about what is happening in the nation now click here and read a very interesting book HERE!



Gaza, Catalonia and Romantic Nationalism



Stratfor

By George Friedman

Founder and Chief Executive Officer



Last week was spent obsessed with Gaza. In the end, nothing changed. A war was fought without an Israeli ground assault but with massive air and rocket attacks on both sides. Israel did not have the appetite and perhaps the power to crush Hamas. Hamas did not have the power to compel Israel to change its policies but wanted to achieve a symbolic victory against Israel. Both decided that continued fighting made little sense and allowed the Americans and Egyptians to bless a settlement. Everyone from Iran to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood played a role, and then the curtain on this act went down. It will come up again. It was not trivial for those who lived through the conflict, but in the end it changed little.



In this context, focusing on Catalonian elections would seem frivolous, but it is the nature of geopolitics that the quiet and odd may have more significance in the long run than the events that carry noisy headlines.



Catalonia is a region in northeastern Spain. Its capital, Barcelona, is the second-largest city in Spain and the country's industrial and commercial hub. Catalonia is also a region that for decades has had a substantial independence movement seeking to break away from the rest of Spain.



In a regional election held Sunday, the movement for independence remained strong but also became more complex. The regional president, Artur Mas, had called early elections as a way of measuring support for a referendum on secession. Mas' party actually lost 12 seats in the election, though another independence-oriented but more left-wing party doubled its seats. Together, the pro-independence parties increased their share by one seat and have the necessary two-thirds majority to force a non-binding referendum.



Without going too deeply into the morass of regional politics, the long-standing dispute between Catalonia and Madrid has been deepened by the financial crisis and the issue of how the burden will be shared. Originally, Mas had not supported independence but rather greater autonomy for Catalonia. However, he did want a deal with Madrid in which the austerity burden placed on Catalonia would be mitigated. Madrid rejected the deal, which drove Mas toward advocating independence and calling the early elections. With Sunday's election results, the independence movement has become more intense and more radical. The mainstream pro-independence party lost, but smaller and more left-wing parties made gains, a trend we expect to grow in Europe as the economic strains increase.



Europe's Border Imperative

Since World War II, there has been an underlying principle in Europe that borders are sacrosanct, that they will not be changed. The fear has been that once borders become an issue again in Europe, the tensions that tore Europe apart prior to World War II would re-emerge. This was not universally respected, of course. Serbia's borders were forcibly changed after the Kosovo war (and Spain is one of four EU countries that did not recognize Kosovo due to its own secessionist movement). But the idea of one state making territorial claims on another was contained.



What was not contained was the self-revision of national borders. The two most famous cases were the "velvet divorce" of Czechoslovakia, where two nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, emerged peacefully. Nor, obviously, did that principle preclude devolution, or the fragmentation of countries into smaller nationally based entities, in either Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union itself. A wave of countries buried in larger transnational entities emerged in Europe in the 1990s, sometimes peacefully and sometimes not.



This did not mean that tensions did not continue to exist. In Belgium, French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings have been hostile to each other since Belgium was established in the 19th century. Slovakia and Romania have large Hungarian populations, separated from Hungary under the post-World War I redrawing of the internal borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Occasionally there are mild nationalist rumbles among the Hungarians in both countries seeking reunification. There is a Scottish secessionist movement in the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is peaceful now but it retains a secessionist movement. There are a variety of such movements in Italy.



For the most part, these movements have not been something to take seriously. Even the Catalan movement is far from achieving independence. Still, we are in a period of European history in which borders are not redrawn primarily due to states seizing territory from each other; rather, the odds that increasingly prevalent secession movements could change the borders are moving from the realm of the preposterous to that of the almost conceivable. That is not a trivial evolution because in such matters the trajectory, rather than the credibility at any one moment, is most important. As pressures build in Europe, what was inconceivable could become surprisingly practical in a relatively short period of time.



The European Summit to discuss the EU budget last week was a demonstration of the degree to which national interest -- and nationalism -- defines the existing European states. The issue in Europe is who is going to bear the burden of austerity that the European political and economic system is imposing. Whatever the idea of Europe might be, the reality is that the political power rests in the nation-states, and the presidents and prime ministers are elected by nation-states. They respond to their constituents, and the constituents want to deflect costs.



The ongoing EU budget dispute is a convenient opportunity for any government that wants to demonstrate to its public that it is being vigilant in minimizing the costs of austerity. The degree of acrimony and indeed hostility among the states -- which formed and shifted coalitions over the budget while trying to shift the financial burden to other states -- was startling if you looked at it through the eyes of 2000. The structures of the European Union are rapidly devolving into its constituent nation-states.



The question of who will bear the burden within nation-states is emerging as an equally divisive issue. This in turn intersects with deep rivers of European history. Catalonia has long argued that it was a separate nation from Spain, based on history and culture, and historically it has had a degree of autonomy. The issue remained relatively quiet until it became clear that Spain's EU membership would have significant economic implications. The tradition of Catalan nationalism then turned from nostalgia to a vehicle to deflect economic pain by shifting it from Barcelona to Madrid.



Nationalism's Difficult Legacy

There is a profoundly important tradition in Europe of romantic nationalism. In its liberal form, it is the idea that every nation has the right to self-determination. The problem is defining what constitutes a nation, and for the romantics that was defined by language, distinct history, culture and so on. It is also defined by self-perception. A nation exists when its inhabitants see themselves as a distinct people. Implicit in romantic nationalism is a conflict. When one notion of romantic nationalism denies the legitimacy of competing claims by a nation's constituent parts, romantic nationalism can become oppressive rather than liberating. In response, the constituent parts sometimes invent national identities for a variety of reasons, destabilizing the whole. The European notion of nationalism can be quite destabilizing and in its most militant form can become brutal.



The hymn of the European Union is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from the 9th Symphony. It is a celebration of the French Revolution and the spirit of liberation that followed. The liberation was not only of the individual but also of the nation from dynasties. It was the combination of the notion of individual rights, national self-determination and national identity. The European Union was intended to embody these things. They are not lost but under strain, and the point of the strain is the nation, which, rather than forming a community, now forms competing parts in what is a zero-sum game. Where this ends is the problem, since the history of Europe after Beethoven was not what he would have hoped for.



Just as interesting is what happens to the Catalonias, the buried nationalisms within existing nation-states, that are now prepared to challenge the legitimacy of a country like Spain and demand liberation from it and the right to its own authentic nationalism. What began in the velvet divorce, peaceful and reasonable, now can become much less friendly under the pressure of severe economic pain. What other hidden nationalisms will emerge to use the shield of national self-determination to deflect economic pain? It is easy to dismiss this as an archaic sentiment and as something that cannot destabilize Europe now. But then there is little in European history to allow Europeans that kind of self-confidence.



It is important to benchmark this by the most extreme sort of consequence that we saw in Gaza. Zionism is a movement that grew out of European romantic nationalism. It drew on Jewish history, culture and religion to legitimize the right to a Jewish nation. Palestinian nationalism also grew out of European romantic nationalism. The idea of the nation-state, which took root in the Arab world in the late 19th century and was later promoted by Arab left-wing secularists in the 1950s, very much derived from the idea of nation-states' replacing European empires. The Palestinian national movement derived from this tradition, claiming the right of a Palestinian nation distinct from other nations.



Visit our Israel page for related analysis, videos, situation reports and maps.

Here we see the bitter side of the "Ode to Joy," rooted in geography. To have a nation, you must have a place that is its own. Ever since the French Revolution, nations have been fighting over their place in Europe. The occupation of Europe from 1945 to 1991 suspended the argument, and from 1991 -- the end of the Cold War and drafting of the EU-forming Maastricht Treaty -- until 2008, the suspension seemed eternal. Very slowly, the inconceivable is becoming far-fetched and the far-fetched merely unlikely.



Romantic nationalism can fulfill a people's dreams or nightmares and usually does both. Gaza gives us a sense of the nightmare, Catalonia a sense of the dreams. But in most places, and in Europe in particular, the distance between dreams and nightmares is not as great as people might like to think. Economic pain coupled with romantic nationalism, now bound together through a massive structure like the European Union that is incapable of understanding the forces that are lurking beneath the surface, have always had a way to generate nightmares in Europe.



It is all inconceivable now. But European history is the history of the inconceivable. I doubt that the founders of Zionism in the 19th century envisioned Gaza as their future.





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University of California Irvine allows Muslim prayer in area restricted to all others

A very interesting post from www.jihadwatch.org about a university showing anti-American bias. This follows this post about the Vatican (?!) leaning toward Muslim terrorists. This follows this post about Jerusalem in the Gaza war. This follows this article about American energy independence and preventing money from going to hostile countries such as Iran . For more about what is happening in the nation now click here and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

University of California Irvine allows Muslim prayer in area restricted to all others



You can see the sign: the Campus Fire Marshal orders the area to remain clear at all times. And underneath, a festive "Happy Eid" sign. Why there? Because that is where Muslims pray on campus at the University of California Irvine:


You can see the "This Area Is to Remain Clear At All Times" sign in the upper right, partially obscured by the tree. So if the Fire Marshal wants the area to remain clear at all times, why are Muslims praying there? Could it be that the University of California Irvine, which just adopted a divestment from Israel resolution reminiscent of Nazi calls to boycott Jewish shops, has quietly set aside this outdoor, public, conspicuous space for Muslim prayer (so that the Muslim presence on campus would be asserted far more effectively than it would be in an indoor prayer room), and had the Fire Marshall issue his decree so that non-Muslims wouldn't defile the mosque with their presence? (Non-Muslims are forbidden to enter mosques unless invited in for proselytizing purposes.)



Certainly the Muslims are unconcerned about the Fire Marshal's order, and consider the space so permanently theirs that they posted prayer times under the restricted area sign:


The Muslim Brotherhood-linked Muslim Student Association is pushing campuses nationwide to make special accommodation for Muslim students. It looks as if at the University of California Irvine they've succeeded spectacularly.



(Photos thanks to D.)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A Generation of Abandonment

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about abondoned children. This follows this post about the early church's beliefs. For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

A Generation of Abandonment






article by Good News Editor





Some see American children as a generation of rage. Surrounded with materialism, the typical child may look healthy materially—but many are emotionally abandoned to look for meaning in things that destroy the mind and heart.



Accompanying children's search for meaning in violent entertainment is the disintegration of the institution of fatherhood.



Although the average American child watches 220 minutes of television a day, he spends only three to eight minutes face to face with his father—if he happens to live with his father. In the absence of a father, television is raising many of our children.



About one in four children grow up with a single mother and another quarter with a mother and stepfather. But even children with natural fathers who live with them are often profoundly neglected. Struggling with ignorance of child-nurturing skills, many fathers unknowingly lay the groundwork for a national mental-health crises. Most people are unaware of the connection between deteriorating psychological health, the absence of strong, loving fathers and youth violence.



An epidemic of mental illness in children leaves children, especially boys, prone to violent behavior.



Kip Kinkle, the 15-year-old who admitted to gunning down 22 students in Oregon, was diagnosed with attention-deficit-and-hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and a learning disability when he was 11. New York developmental psychologist Myriam Miedzian noted the boy had "easy access to guns but not to effective treatment."



"ADHD is six to nine times as prevalent among boys than among girls, mental retardation nearly twice as prevalent, autism three times and conduct disorder four to 12 times as prevalent" said Dr. Miedzian. "As a result, boys are at greater risk for violent behavior."



From 1975 to 1990 the percentage of youths in the United States in need of professional mental health services nearly doubled, from 10 percent to 18 percent, said James Garbarino, Family Life Development Center director at Cornell University.



Some psychologists estimate 40 percent of the jail population and 30 percent of delinquent boys suffer from learning disabilities. "Not only do most high-risk children go untreated, they see more than 10,000 TV murders by the age 18," said Dr. Miedzian.



Not all of these trends in deteriorating youth mental health are attributed to genetic factors. Some believe that young children, when lied to and disappointed enough by care-givers, develop a kind of schizophrenia.



In a process called "crazymaking," children who are told they are loved by abusive or negligent parents learn to disassociate themselves from primary relationships. This can happen to children of wealth as well as children of poverty. Some experts see those youth obsessed with television exhibiting characteristics of attachment disorder, with television becoming their main reference in life. GN

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Stop Harry Reid From Changing Senate Rules To Pass Amnesty for Illegals

A very interesting post from www.Alipac.US about Harry Reid and the GOP Senators' amnesty attempt. This follows this post about the House GOP chair's amnesty position. This follows this post about amnesty Republicans, such as John Boener and Lindsey Graham.  This follows this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! For more about what is happening in the nation now click here and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

Stop Harry Reid From Changing Senate Rules To Pass Amnesty for Illegals


by

ALIPAC

Friends of ALIPAC,



We hope that you are rested and recharged after the Thanksgiving break.



We have a window of about three weeks where our activism can have an impact in our efforts to stop both legislative Amnesty and Obama's dictatorial Amnesty for illegal aliens.



We need a strong response from you. We need to move as a group of many thousands with the same voice, at the same time, for maximum impact. We need a massive wave of calls to the US Senate right away to stop Harry Reid's and John McCain's rules changes and Amnesty plans!



The first threat we need to address is the traitorous US Senator Harry Reid who plans to change the Senate rules. He owes his entire political existence in the Senate to the illegal aliens who committed numbers of felonies by voting for him in Las Vegas.



The filibuster and cloture rules in the US Senate are time honored traditions put in place to make sure that no legislation that is potentially damaging to America or highly unpopular with the American public can pass even if one particular party has a majority in the Senate.



Senator Reid wants to remove this safeguard with what is politically called, "The Nuclear Option." Changing the rules of the US Senate to remove a filibuster would drop the threshold on votes to "proceed" with bills or to invoke "cloture."



In 2006, 2007, and 2010, ALIPAC helped defeat Amnesty for illegal immigrants in the US Senate because the filibuster rules said the Amnesty supporters needed 60 votes out of 100 in the Senate to pass the Amnesty legislation opposed by over 66% of Americans instead of just 51 votes.



Here are more details in this article...

Power Grab: Senator Harry Reid Goes for "Nuclear Option" to pass unpopular legislation like Amnesty

http://www.alipac.us/content/power-g...-amnesty-1132/



As you can see in this article, that old traitor Senator John McCain is back in action pushing for Amnesty for illegal aliens even though he campaigned in the GOP Primary of 2010 claiming he had dropped his support for Amnesty. Looks like the Arizona Republicans who were gullible enough to reelect McCain just got screwed. So, if we don't act, Harry Reid is going to have sellout senators like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and a few others to join with him to alter the rules and rifle through lots of unpopular legislation that will greatly harm America.



McCain to GOP: Embrace ‘bigger tent' and pass immigration reform amnesty for illegal aliens!

http://www.alipac.us/f12/mccain-gop-...one%92-267712/



Please read the articles above and swing into action with ALIPAC today.





Step 1:

Contact both US Senators for your state regardless of the probability they will respond favorably.

Send in your own distinct version of this sample message by phone and follow that call with a written version sent by email, fax, letter, or all three.



Remember that calls followed by personalized and distinctive messages from you will have the greatest impact and that emails alone or template messages will have the least impact.



When you have contacted both of your senators by phone and in writing, then proceed to contact as many other US Senate offices as possible.



Sample Message



"I'm calling/writing today to ask Senator _______ to oppose Senator Harry Reid's despicable plans to alter the US Senate rules to remove the minority party's ability to filibuster. The filibuster, cloture vote threshold, and motion to proceed rules should not be touched! These rules are in place so that highly contentious, unpopular, or nationally destructive laws cannot be passed even if one party has a narrow majority in the Senate. I am aware that Reid wants the rules changed so he can pass Amnesty for illegal aliens who have been committing election fraud in Nevada to support his candidacy. Please stand up to Harry Reid and any member of the US Senate who would try to grab more power and abuse the time honored rules designed to stop bad legislation from passing."



ALIPAC's Contact List for the US Senate

http://www.alipac.us/f31/congression...3/#post1256792



Step 2:

Contact US Senator Mitch McConnell (202) 224-2541 Louisville, KY 40202

Contact Form - Contact - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell



to say



"I am calling/writing to ask Senator McConnell to speak out against and fully oppose Senator Harry Reid's attempt to change the Senate's filibuster rules so he can pass Amnesty for illegal aliens along with other unpopular legislation Americans don't want!"





Step 3:

Waste some more breath on John McCain to let him know you disapprove of both Amnesty and his lies to Arizona voters.



Contact Senator John McCain (202) 224-2235 Prescott, AZ 86301

http://mccain.senate.gov/public/inde...ct.ContactForm



"I am calling to express my disgust with both Senator McCain's support for immigration reform Amnesty for illegal aliens and his lies to Arizona voters (be prepared for his staff to lie and argue he does not support Amnesty)! John McCain lied to Arizona voters in 2010 claiming he would not support Amnesty anymore but now rushes to help Democrats like Harry Reid pass Amnesty as soon as the Democrats pick up a few more seats in the Senate. John McCain is an illegal alien Amnesty supporter and a liar who has worked to deceive Arizona voters and the entire American public."



Step 4:

Put pressure on Harry Reid's office (202) 224-3542 Carson City, NV 89701

Contact Senator Reid



"I am calling/writing to complain that I do not approve of Senator Reid's attempt to alter the time honored filibuster rules of the US Senate so that he can have more power and pass unpopular legislation. If Reid can't get 60% support for a bill then it need not pass. I find it unscrupulous and underhanded that Harry Reid would seek to change the long standing rules of the Senate to pursue his agenda instead of appealing to the public and other senators on the merits of his bills. I know that Harry Reid wants to change the Senate rules to pass Amnesty for illegal aliens along with many other bills that are opposed by most Americans, and he needs to stop."





Let's get those phone lines in Washington hot today with special pressure on John McCain, Harry Reid, and Mitch McConnell!



By turning a bright light on with thousands of calls to senate offices, you could derail their Amnesty plans. Let them know you are informed and that you stand ready to fight their rule change and Amnesty plans!





Let's roll!



William Gheen and The ALIPAC Team

www.alipac.us

Good news: Saudi king opens Religious Tolerance Center in Europe to "spread the message of Islam"

A very interesting post from www.jihadwatch.org  about Saudi Arabia's outreach to Europe. This follows this post about sex slavery in Saudi Arabia.  This follows this article about American energy independence and preventing money from going to hostile countries such as Iran . For more about what is happening in the U.S. now click here and you can read a very interesting book HERE.

Good news: Saudi king opens Religious Tolerance Center in Europe to "spread the message of Islam"


"Interreligious dialogue" for Islamic supremacists means nothing more or less than spreading Islam. Note also the OIC chief Ihsanoglu's emphasis on the need for the West to abandon the freedom of speech. "Saudi King Opens Religious Tolerance Center in Europe to 'Spread the Message of Islam,'" by Patrick Goodenough for CNS News, November 27 (thanks to Tom):



A new Saudi-funded, Europe-based center for interreligious dialogue will be “a good medium to spread the message of Islam,” says the government-appointed imam of Mecca’s Grand Mosque – a man who has stoked controversy in the past by calling Jews “monkeys and pigs” and Christians “cross worshippers.”

“The formation of this center in the West with King Abdullah’s support gives a strong message that Islam is a religion of dialogue and understanding and not a religion of enmity, fanaticism and violence,” the International Islamic News Agency quoted Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais as saying.



Sudais was reacting to the launch Monday of the new King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in the Austrian capital, Vienna.



Lending international legitimacy to the Saudi king’s latest religious tolerance initiative, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was among those who attended the opening.



In his remarks, Ban asserted that too many religious leaders have “stoked intolerance, supported extremism and propagated hate” rather than tolerance, adding, “We must all do better in reaching out across boundaries.”



The center’s first-day program included an inaugural symposium, during which the head of the Islamic bloc of nations accused non-Muslims of “Islamophobia” and urged Western governments to enact and enforce laws against it.



“Islamophobia leads to hate crimes and as such, it generates fear, feelings of stigmatization, marginalization, alienation and rejection,” said Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.



“The net result is heightened anxiety and rising violence. Islamophobia is also an assault on people’s identity and their human dignity.”



According to an OIC statement on his address, Ihsanoglu proposed actions to remedy the situation:



“[T]he West must define hate crimes broadly and address the information deficit as well as enact adequate legislation and implement this legislation effectively. In conjunction with national legislation, they should also implement international commitments and agreed norms.”



The OIC has set up an “observatory” to monitor Islamophobia, which it also defines as a contemporary form or racism.



The observatory’s most recent annual report, released this month, covers incidents including Qur’an burning in Afghanistan and Florida, and the U.S. House Homeland Committee’s hearings on radicalization in the American Muslim community, and the notorious YouTube video denigrating Mohammed....

Posted by Robert

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

What Did the Early Church Believe and Practice?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the early church's beliefs. This follows this post about the European Union in the background of the news. For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.


The book of Acts records eyewitness accounts of the early Church from Christ's resurrection until about A.D. 60. Chapter 2 records the beginning of the Church.



This special event began when the place where the apostles and other disciples were gathered was suddenly filled with the sound of a mighty wind and "tongues, as of fire" appeared to alight on them. They then began speaking to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the observance that day of the biblical Feast of Pentecost. Miraculously, the apostles' preaching was comprehensible to all people from many lands so that all understood their words in their own language.



Often overlooked in this account is the significance of these events occurring on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.



See All...). This was one of the festivals God commanded for His people many centuries before (Leviticus 23). In revealing these festivals, God exclaimed, "These are My feasts ... the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations ..." (Leviticus 23:2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.



See All..., Leviticus 23:4These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.



See All...). Then God proclaimed them to be "a statute forever" (verses Leviticus 23:14And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.



See All..., Leviticus 23:21And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.



See All..., Leviticus 23:31Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.



See All..., Leviticus 23:41And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.



See All...).



The Gospels show Jesus keeping the same festivals (Matthew 26:17-19 [17] Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?

[18] And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

[19] And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.





See All...; John 7:10-14 [10] But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

[11] Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?

[12] And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.

[13] Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

[14] Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.





See All..., John 7:37-38 [37] In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

[38] He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.





See All...). Both the book of Acts and Paul's letters show the apostles observing these festivals long after Christ died and was raised (Acts 2:1-4 [1] And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

[2] And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

[3] And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

[4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.





See All...; Acts 18:21But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.



See All...; Acts 20:6And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.



See All..., Acts 20:16For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.



See All...; Acts 27:9Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,



See All...). This is the example they set for us.



Today, however, most churches teach that these festivals were somehow annulled by Christ's death. Yet the unmistakable record of the Bible is that the early Church continued to observe them long after His death—but with a greater grasp of their spiritual significance.



Speaking of one of these God-given feasts, the apostle Paul urged the Church congregation in Corinth—a mixed group of gentile and Jewish believers—to "keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.



See All...).



Paul was obviously referring to keeping the biblical Feast of Unleavened Bread (see Leviticus 23:6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.



See All...; Deuteronomy 16:16Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:



See All...). Paul similarly explained the Christian significance of the biblical Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:



See All...; Leviticus 23:5In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.



See All...) and gave instructions on how to properly observe this ceremony in the Church (1 Corinthians 11:23-28 [23] For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

[24] And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

[25] After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

[26] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

[27] Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

[28] But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.





See All...).



Such passages prompt an obvious question: Since Jesus, the apostles and the early Church kept these days, why don't churches teach and observe them today? After all, Paul directly tied the feasts to Jesus, His purpose and His sacrifice for mankind (1 Corinthians 5:7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:



See All...).



The Gospels and Acts are equally clear that Christ, the disciples and the early Church kept the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day of the week as their day of rest and worship (Mark 6:2And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?



See All...; Luke 4:16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.



See All..., Luke 4:31-32 [31] And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

[32] And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.





See All...; Luke 13:10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.



See All...; Acts 13:14-44 [14] But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.

[15] And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

[16] Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.

[17] The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.

[18] And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.

[19] And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.

[20] And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.

[21] And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

[22] And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

[23] Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

[24] When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

[25] And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

[26] Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

[27] For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

[28] And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.

[29] And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

[30] But God raised him from the dead:

[31] And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

[32] And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,

[33] God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

[34] And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

[35] Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

[36] For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

[37] But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

[38] Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

[39] And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

[40] Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

[41] Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

[42] And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

[43] Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

[44] And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.





See All...; Acts 18:4And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.



See All...). It was Jesus' custom to go to the synagogue on Sabbath days to worship (Luke 4:16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.



See All...).



Contrary to the teaching of those who say that Paul abandoned the Sabbath, it was his custom, too, to go to the synagogue every Sabbath (Acts 17:1-3 [1] Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

[2] And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

[3] Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.





See All...), using this God-ordained assembly to teach others about Jesus of Nazareth as Savior and Messiah.



Of course, most people and churches ignore the biblical seventh-day Sabbath. But why? Shouldn't we observe a weekly day of rest and worship as God commands (Exodus 20:8-11 [8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

[9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

[10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

[11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.





See All...; Deuteronomy 5:12-15 [12] Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

[13] Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

[14] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

[15] And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.





See All...), and shouldn't it be the same day that Jesus and His apostles kept?



A closer examination of the Scriptures reveals many other differences between the teachings and practices of Jesus and His apostles and what is commonly taught. For example, the belief that obedience to God's law is unnecessary is directly contrary to Jesus' own words (Matthew 4:4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.



See All...; Matthew 5:17-19 [17] Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

[18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

[19] Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.





See All...) and the teachings and examples of His apostles (Acts 24:14But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:



See All...; Acts 25:8While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.



See All...; Romans 7:12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.



See All..., 22; 1 Corinthians 7:19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.



See All...; 2 Timothy 3:15-17 [15] And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

[16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

[17] That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.





See All...).



Jesus and the apostles never taught that the righteous ascend consciously to heaven at death (John 3:13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.



See All...; Acts 2:29Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.



See All..., 34), and they understood that man does not possess an immortal soul that would spend eternity in either heaven or hell (Ezekiel 18:4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.



See All..., 20; Matthew 10:28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.



See All...). Rather, they followed earlier scriptural passages in referring to death as being like an unconscious sleep from which people will wake in a future resurrection (compare Ecclesiastes 9:5For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.



See All..., Ecclesiastes 9:10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.



See All...; Daniel 12:2-3 [2] And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

[3] And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.





See All...; John 11:11-14 [11] These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

[12] Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

[13] Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

[14] Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.





See All...; 1 Corinthians 11:30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.



See All...; 1 Corinthians 15:6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.



See All..., 1 Corinthians 15:51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,



See All...; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

[15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

[16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.





See All...).



Nowhere in the Bible do we find any hint of approval for today's popular religious holidays, such as Christmas and Easter. Though the Greek word pascha is once incorrectly translated "Easter" (Acts 12:4And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.



See All..., KJV)—and that only in one Bible translation—this is a flagrant mis translation. Pascha always means "Passover," never Easter!



Instead of approving such celebrations rooted in paganism, God condemns them even when they are used in attempts to worship Him (compare Deuteronomy 12:29-32 [29] When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;

[30] Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

[31] Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

[32] What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.





See All...; 1 Corinthians 10:19-21 [19] What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?

[20] But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

[21] Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.





See All...).



These are some of the major differences between the Christianity of Jesus and the apostles and the Christianity commonly practiced today. But don't simply take our word for it. We encourage you to follow the example of the Bereans (Acts 17:11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.



See All...) and look into your Bible to see whether today's popular beliefs and practices agree with what Jesus and His apostles practiced and taught.



(To learn more about these subjects, be sure to read the Bible study aids The Church Jesus Built , God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind , Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Really Matter Which Days We Observe? , Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest , Heaven and Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach? and What Happens After Death? )