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Thursday, December 1, 2016

Does Christmas Really Honor Christ?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Jesus Christ and Christmas. This follows this post about Fidel Castro and others. This follows this post about family estrangement. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.

Does Christmas Really Honor Christ?

by Gary Petty 5 comments

A woman wear a Christmas stocking cap holding a gift. — The problem with the modern Christmas celebration is that its origins have little to do with the real Jesus Christ. This isn’t hidden knowledge.

Imagine a woman giving a gift to her husband on his birthday. Only it isn’t his birthday. It’s the birthday of an old boyfriend. And the gift is something she used to give that other person. It would be natural for the husband to doubt the genuineness of her love!
If someone really loved you and was trying to do something you would appreciate, it seems like he or she wouldn’t throw in your face such reminders of an old flame!
But Christmas is doing this very thing with Jesus—supposedly honoring Him when this birthday and celebratory elements were formerly used to honor false gods!

Why do you observe Christmas?

If you’re like most people you’d say that you observe Christmas because it’s a way of showing love to Jesus Christ. Maybe you attend midnight mass or a church service on Christmas morning. Your children might participate in a play pretending to be Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. Perhaps a Nativity scene or a giant plastic Santa Claus adorns your front yard.
To many, Christmas is a time of friends and family, the smell of freshly baked cookies and the excitement of children around a decorated tree, tearing the wrappings from gifts.
But is there more to the story? Let’s look at another side of Christmas from the website Witchology.com, which bills itself as “a research and education provider specialising in the areas of Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Magic (Magick) and the Occult.” It says this regarding Christmas:
“What is the Pagan secret that Christianity has tried to keep from you? The truth about Christmas is that it is not Christmas at all. It is the Winter Solstice, a Pagan holy day observed around the world and since time immemorial from the Native American tribes, to the Norsemen, to the ancient Romans, and today by modern Pagans, Witches and Wiccans.”
The startling fact is that the information about the origins of Christmas on this witchcraft-promoting website is actually true! Christmas customs are rooted in paganism. Jesus Christ wasn’t even born anywhere near December 25.
Yet most people respond to this information with something like: “I know there are some pagan and secular customs incorporated into Christmas, but these customs were Christianized. In this way we choose to show love toward Jesus.”
But it’s time to ask the really hard question that few want to face. Could observing Christmas actually be dishonoring Jesus?

A warning to the Christians in Corinth

Let’s go back in time to the first Christians who lived in the ancient city of Corinth. Like most ancient seaports, Corinth was known for its multiculturalism, lucrative business opportunities, religious diversity and seamy pleasures. The city’s name spawned a Greek verb meaning “to practice fornication.” Corinth was an economic powerhouse of around half-a-million people, a mega-metropolis by the standards of the day.
The majority of people in Corinth were pagans. They worshipped the traditional Greek and Roman gods and goddesses or sacrificed in the temples of one of the various “mystery religions.” One of the most magnificent Corinthian temples stood on a high hill looming above the city. It was the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, employing 1,000 temple prostitutes.
As people from this pagan-Greek background converted to Christianity, some naturally continued to practice some of their old customs. It would have been easy for them to see these pagan rites as celebrations imbued with a new Christian spirit honoring Jesus.
The apostle Paul wrote to these early Christian in 1 Corinthians 10:20-21: “The things which the Gentiles [pagan nations] sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”
Think about what Paul is saying. You want to be a follower of Jesus Christ. You believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Are you willing to go where the Bible takes you?
Satan and his demons are not fairy-tale creatures. They are real. Demons are angels who rebelled against God and, after their rebellion, now embody all that is evil. In another letter Paul wrote that Satan is “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We can’t escape Paul’s logic. Paganism isn’t harmless— it is the worship of demons and the false god of this age!

Christmas origins have nothing to do with Christ

Let’s read a little more from Witchology.com about the origins of Christmas:

“One of the eight Sabbats [pagan festivals] of Witchcraft, this season, known as Yule, the great annual festival of Saturn, the Saturnalia, of Pagan Rome, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti [Day of the Birth of the Unconquered Sun] of the Mithras cult, the Winter Solstice is a sacred time in the Pagan calendar (emphasis added throughout).
“What is the Christmas secret? What are the facts Christians would rather you did not know? We set our clocks by it, we celebrated a Millennium because of it, but the shocking truth is it did not happen. The birth of a boy under remarkable circumstances to humble parents in a stable in Bethlehem did not happen on the 25th of December, 1 A.D.”

Again, the website is correct. The truth is that the prophesied Messiah Jesus Christ was born of a virgin named Mary just as the Old Testament prophets foretold, but again it was nowhere near December 25—which even at that time was a major pagan celebration in several ancient cultures.
The problem with the modern Christmas celebration is that its origins have little to do with the real Jesus Christ. This isn’t hidden knowledge. With just a little research online or in a decent encyclopedia, anyone can learn that the Yule log, mistletoe, the Christmas tree and even the date of Christmas are rooted in paganism and not the Bible.
Is your response to this information, “It doesn’t matter since I don’t use the Christmas tree to worship Scandinavian gods but to show love to Jesus Christ”?
Let’s go back to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10: “The things which the Gentiles [pagan nations] sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”
We are forced by the Scripture to ask a hard question: How much are you willing to drink the cup of the Lord’s table and the cup of the table of demons and conclude that it doesn’t matter to Christ?
At the beginning of this article I talked about a woman repackaging a celebration of an old boyfriend’s birthday and presenting this to her husband as his birthday party on the same date—even though it isn’t his birthday. Pretending it’s someone’s birthday and giving him a party that recalls a wrong past relationship isn’t exhibiting love or respect, is it?
Then why do you believe that you are showing Jesus love and respect when you do the same thing to Him by throwing a party originating in paganism and pretending it’s His birthday?

We must worship in spirit and truth

The Gospel of Luke records a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans were an interesting people. They claimed to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but rejected many of the teachings of the Old Testament. They refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem and mixed pagan customs with the worship of the true God.
When Christ’s disciples later came to Samaria to preach the gospel, as recorded in Acts 8, they found a man named Simon. This Simon was a sorcerer who claimed to worship God by using the rites and customs of worshipping demons.
As Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman with the reality of who He is, He told her, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23).
Again, Jesus Himself said that “the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Let that sink in.
Part of the truth here is that Scripture says we are not to try to honor God the way people formerly honored false gods (Deuteronomy 12:29-32). That is unacceptable to Him.
Isn’t it time for you to question the legitimacy of paganized Christianity? Isn’t it time to stop wrapping Jesus up in the trappings of the ancient pagan Saturnalia, Mithras and the gods of ancient Scandinavia and instead to seek to worship Him and the Father in spirit and truth?
It’s never easy to examine beliefs and practices that you’ve accepted all of your life. But we have to ask if God wants something different in your relationship with Him.
God is reaching out to you to worship Him in spirit and truth. Let’s strip the pagan customs from our worship of the great God and His Son Jesus Christ and honor Them the way They direct in the Bible!

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

House on Fire!!

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about a nation being on fire. This follows this post about prophecy. This follows this post about the immigration threat. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.

House on Fire

by Robert Berendt 3 comments

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In my home town of Luscar, Alberta, houses were made of wood, and people had wood and coal heaters. It was seldom that a house caught fire, but if one did, everyone in town came to see if they could help. I remember the time when the town café burned down. The hotel was nearby and men were scurrying in every direction to rescue things that might burn while others were trying to douse the flames. I recall one very strong man literally tearing the front porch off the café in order to reach the flames that seemed to be coming from below. All of the efforts failed and the café did burn down—never to be rebuilt. That was also the fate of houses that caught fire, as we had no firehouse.
When somebody’s house caught fire, no one asked how it happened and who was to blame. The first concern was for any living thing within the house, then valuables if they could be rescued, and all the while people were busy trying to put out the fire. Everyone was involved, and it seemed everyone felt the sense of loss. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.” Those words were lived in every small town in our nation. Neighbors worked with all of their might to put the fire out if it was your barn or house—and you would do the same for them.
Thomas Jefferson’s words referred to the condition of affairs in the United States of America. We all have some major “fires” that may not cause visible flames in our homes in Canada and in other nations around the world. Families are being destroyed because their “homes” are burning, and too many nations are in a state of chaos and danger. Usually, these homes cannot be rebuilt as they once were—just like the café in our town. If we consider this world to be a home, and if we see the “fire,” then we need to be shouting an alarm so that everyone can lend a helping hand to put the fire out before it consumes everything in its path. This world seems to be “on fire” when we consider the many chaotic areas of unrest. We have fire alarms in our homes to inform us when a fire just breaks out. Smoke detectors can be very sensitive and heeding them can help us to avert a major fire. Many place fire extinguishers in several strategic places. We need such detectors within our nations and families as well—and we need to be adept in the use of preventative measures.
God gave laws to Israel, which placed the responsibility for a fire on the one who started it. In Exodus 22:6, Moses was instructed to write that if a fire broke out and consumed stacked grain, standing grain, or a field, the one who started the fire would be called upon to make restitution. Among people, we see both peacemakers and those who seem to want conflict all of the time. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). We can say, “Blessed are they who put fires out” or “Blessed are the firefighters.”
God called Ezekiel to be a watchman over Israel. He was a sort of smoke detector for them. Ezekiel wrote that God did not want the house of Israel to die (Ezekiel 33:11), but there was an impending destruction due to their wicked ways. God was hoping they would repent—thus the warning had to be sent. Ezekiel 33:4 and Ezekiel 33:7 give the focus of the warning. An individual and the nation of Israel were warned. Israel had a huge fire in “the home.” God looked high and low for one who would fear Him and keep His commandments—and found nobody (Isaiah 41:26, Ezekiel 22:30). In real life, people sometimes sleep on while the fire rages. When they notice and attempt to take corrective action, it is too late. Israel was sleeping.
We experience problems in life that are a danger to our nation, to our families or to ourselves. All of those problems can be considered to be fires. Some people tend to stand helplessly by or even grow hysterical when a fire starts. They simply cannot seem to move and do not know what to do. When trouble was brought upon Israel, they grew faint and had feeble hands and weak knees (Ezekiel 7:6, 17). When Jonah told Nineveh that their house was on fire, they acted! The king called an immediate fast for everyone (including animals) and ordered that prayers and supplications be made. God changed His mind and did not destroy the city (Jonah 3:5-10). They put the fire out! God is seeking those who recognize their sin and turn to Him in repentance. He is full of mercy, and gladly pardons a repentant sinner or nation (Isaiah 55:7).
God gives the example of Jacob or Israel as one who was “on fire” but did not realize it. Psalm 78 explains that a fire was kindled against Israel because they did not acknowledge or remember all that God had done for them. That fire ended up devouring the nation. Psalms 78:17 and Psalms 78:21 tell us that they sinned in greater ways and brought God’s wrath on them. The fire of indignation and anger was fanned by the sins and actions of Israel. In verse 63, Asaph wrote that the fire consumed the young men. A raging fire such as this one gathers momentum and soon becomes impossible to control. It was never God’s intention or desire to cause harm to His chosen people, but they had a great inner problem that resulted in the destruction of their “house.”
James used the concept of a fire that may be small at the beginning, but that could grow until it engulfs everything in its path. He stated that the tongue could start a fire that would leave great destruction in its wake (James 3:5-6). The fire may be small at first, but left unattended and with flammable material nearby, it can soon mushroom into a destructive force. We live in an age where the concept of family and devotion to one mate for a lifetime is becoming increasingly rare. Our homes are burning with a destructive fire that will eventually destroy the nation. People get into arguments that escalate until they simply want to escape. Yet, when asked precisely what the root cause of the destruction was, they cannot find a reason big enough to have been so terrible. Marriages need constant attention because there are flammable materials lying about.
Years ago I worked in a small garage. We had gasoline cans standing around as well as oil containers, grease on the floor, and flammable items such as tires, wood, and paper throughout the building. We also had a fire extinguisher nearby. With care, the garage stood for years. All who worked there were mindful of the danger. It only took one act of foolishness to burn the building to the ground—and I was witness to that. There are many parallels in our lives that match this short story. One sinful act can destroy a marriage and, in some cases, a nation. King David pretty well accomplished that when he took Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed. Israel was never the same after that. God told David that the sword would never depart from his descendants (2 Samuel 12:10-11). The simple act of Adam and Eve’s sin is another example of starting a fire that burns to this day (Genesis 3:16-24). We need to be on guard for burning things and know how to respond.
Look for a fire within yourself, your family, or your relationship with God. We need to evaluate ourselves from time to time (monitor our direction and actions). Even when things seem to be going forward beautifully, a constant vigil is needed. Paul stated the need for a spiritual self-examination on an ongoing basis. “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). If you find a hot spot or potential danger and realize it is the kind of fire that is destructive, put it out right away while it is still small. If we maintain a constant vigil, we will never be engulfed by flames we cannot control.
For more on staying “on fire,” request our free study aid, You Can Have Living Faith .

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Thursday, September 22, 2016

Vicente Fernandez’s Extraordinary Anti-Trump Rant

An interesting article from http://www.vdare.com about Vicente Fernandez. This follows this post about Republican suicide by immigration. Remember, “Amnesty” means ANY non-enforcement of existing immigration laws! This follows this comment and this post about how to Report Illegal Immigrants! Also, you can read two very interesting books HERE.
Please follow me here.

"Community Organizers" are planning to repeat the 2006 Marches this May.

Said In Spanish: Vicente Fernandez’s Extraordinary Anti-Trump Rant; The Sada Plan For The U.S., Mega MayDay Mexican March; Etc.

Allan Wall

Guess what? Dubya’s notorious Hispandering 2000 nomination convention featured a singer who was not only a Mexican citizen but turns out to be an extreme Trump-phobe. Figures.

VICENTE FERNANDEZ’s Anti-Trump Rant: “I’ll Spit In His Face, I’ll Mention His Mother”
The famous Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez (right) just had his “farewell concert” on April 16^th in the massive Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Besides the music and the memories, “Chente” included an anti-Trump rant in the performance:

The singer Vicente Fernandez had some words in the concert… for….Donald Trump….the artist interrupted his series of songs to express his opinion of “a candidate” who aspires to the presidency of the United States. He didn’t make direct reference to Trump’s name, but it wasn’t necessary, the simple insinuation was more than sufficient for the assembled public to begin a prolonged booing.
“The day I find him”, guaranteed Fernandez….” I am going to spit in his face, I’m going to mention his mother.” And he added that he was going to say “everything that they haven’t said [to him]” in his [Trump’s] life.
‘Chente’ escupiría y le ‘mentaría la madre’ a Donald Trump, Excelsior, April 17, 2016

Thus one of Mexico’s most famous singers ends his career by bashing Donald Trump.
Amazing coincidence: back in the year 2000, the year of Dubya’s nomination, a younger Vicente Fernandez (right) performed at the Republican National Convention. [Vicente Fernandez over the years, by Melissa Brown, My San Antonio, undated]
Fitting, isn’t it?
MEXICO’S NEW AMBASSADOR AND HIS PLAN FOR THE UNITED STATES
Mexico’s leaders are so rattled over Donald J. Trump they have replaced Mexican ambassador Miguel Basanez with Carlos Sada, who will presumably deal with the Trump Threat more forcefully. Though Basanez oversaw the strategy of getting Mexican immigrants naturalized as U.S. citizens so they can vote against Trump, that wasn’t enough.
Carlos Sada (needless to say a white Mexican) already has plenty of experience, having served as Consul General in the Mexican consulates of San Antonio, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Sada also served a stint at the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C., where he dealt with Congress.
Excelsior reported (my translations):

The task entrusted to the new ambassador by the senators was to defend the interests of Mexicans living in the United States before the overtones of intolerance and strengthen the image of our country…
[Senado aprueba a Sada Solana como embajador en EU, by Hector Figueroa Alcantara , April 21, 2016]

And the new Mexican ambassador has a plan for us:

…a response of the Mexican government to the xenophobic expressions and the exacerbation of a negative image of Mexicans in the United States, thus to correct the absence of a systematic project to counter them.

The new ambassador plans to be more (!) aggressive than the outgoing one. He says:

…among various sectors of the United States there is a negative perception of Mexico, which has been exacerbated in the context of the current electoral process in that country.
Sadly, we have been witnesses of voices that, taking advantage of a sector of the electorate uninformed of and worried about the challenges presented by globalization……they [these voices] distort the nature and importance of the bilateral relationship and minimize the contributions that Mexican migrants make to the U.S. economy and society.
[Sada planea cambio en relación con EU, by Leticia Robles Rosa, Excelsior, April 21, 2016]

In other words, Mexico believes it should have veto power over American voters who want to get control of our border.
Ambassador Sada has an eight-point plan to keep us in line (“to achieve legal security for the 35 million Mexicans [n.b. including U.S. born-Mexican-Americans] who reside in the United States”):

The 8 Point Sada Plan:

The reactivation of the Mexican consular network in the United States. (When was it ever de-activated?)
“The protection and empowerment of the connacionales [fellow Mexicans], from achieving the dual nationality to reducing their vulnerability to get access to better schools, jobs and credit.” (Notice the open call for dual nationality for Mexicans in the US.)
Re-organize Mexican Diaspora groups in the United States.
“Cultural and Educational Diplomacy.” (Excelsior reports that such efforts “are not accomplishing their purpose,” which suggests Sada has in mind something far more aggressive than just sharing Mexican culture.)
“Strengthening the relationships between legislators and local officials in both nations.” (State legislators and municipal governments should be working with the Mexican government?)
To work toward the accomplishment of “migratory reform” (a.k.a. Amnesty).
“A Smart Border” (This ostensibly means more advanced technology on the border, but actually means keeping the border open—and, above all, no Trump Wall.)
Revitalization of the Merida Initiative. (The U.S.-Mexican agreement aimed at fighting narcotics trafficking and international criminal gangs. Mexico wants the elimination of the stipulation that 15% of the funding depend upon Mexican human rights progress.)

The Sada Plan is just more Mexican meddling and a continuing effort to use Mexican-Americans as a subversive force within our country.

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Will any of our politicians complain about this? Is this our election, or Mexico’s?
MEGA MAY DAY MARCH PLANNED
May_1_2006_Rally_in_Chicago

Remember the heady days of the Dubya Administration, when masses of illegal aliens demonstrated in American streets?
Well, a new one is planned for May Day in Los Angeles, partly in commemoration of the marches ten years ago and partly to bash Donald Trump. The plan is to carry a banner at the front of the parade reading Construyamos puentes, no muros. Alto a Donald Trump [“Let us construct bridges, not walls. Stop Donald Trump”]. [Marcharán este Primero de Mayo contra el odio racial en Los Ángeles, By Isaías Alvarado, La Opinion, April 5, 2016]
“PUEBLAYORK “
Most Mexican immigrants to the United States aren’t pioneers. They usually migrate to American communities already filled with other Mexicans, usually Mexicans from their own city or region. As a result, certain “Mexican” colonies in the United States are really colonies of particular Mexican localities.

Most of the Mexicans in New York City are from the state of Puebla. In honor of them, the BBC’S Spanish-language outlet BBC Mundo (that’s Spanish for “world”), just ran a piece entitled “Pueblayork”: la ciudad “secreta” de mexicanos que sostiene a Nueva York, [“’Pueblayork’”: the ‘secret’ city of Mexicans that sustains New York”]:

In a business carnitas of pork tacos are sold. A few steps away is a store that offers dresses for girls who turn 15, and after that a restaurant where the daily menu is verdolagas in green sauce, potato quesadillas and lamb mixiotes, a lamb stew that is prepared steamed.
The signs in the businesses, the vendors’ offers and the conversations that are heard are in Spanish. It seems like any street in any city of Mexico. But it isn’t.
This is Roosevelt Avenue, the principal street of the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, in New York.
For decades the neighborhood has been one of the refuges for Mexicans who enter the United States without documents. [Sic—did they forget their passports?]
Many of the neighborhood are from Puebla, the state that contributes the most migrants to the city. In fact, they were the first Mexicans to arrive to this city, says Joel Magallan, founder of the Tepeyac Association of New York.
[by Alberto Najar, April 19, 2016]

BBC’s Najar reports that “Over a million poblanos live in the United States, the majority in New York neighborhoods.” In fact, he claims that one-sixth of the inhabitants of Puebla now live in New York. That has led to the Big Apple being referred to in Mexico as “Pueblayork”.
Mexicans have a highly inflated sense of their contributions in the United States, and the article reports that “the migrants believe that without their work the city would be a chaos.”
Really?
The aforementioned Tepeyac association has its own office in Manhattan, from which the group has, among other things, organized anti-deportation protests. The organization also has classes for DACA recipients.
Needless to say, Donald Trump comes up. One Carlos Juarez Hernandez, a Puebla native and 20-year old DACA beneficiary, declares:

I am not afraid, but sometimes it makes me angry. I speak with the Mexicans who were born here [Once again, this means U.S. born-Mexican-Americans] and I tell them, go vote, we need the Latino vote because, if not, that Trump will take everything.

VOTING IN MEXICO FROM U.S.
Last year I reported that Mexico has come out with a new type of Voter ID for Mexicans in the U.S., so they can vote in Mexican elections from here.
Now that plan is being executed. La Opinion reported Llegan las credenciales para votar en México desde Estados Unidos , [“The Credentials Arrive to Vote in Mexico From the United States,” by Isaías Alvarado, La Opinion, April 5, 2016].
At the Los Angeles consulate, nearly 5,000 Mexicans had requested such IDs. Nationwide, about half a million are to be distributed, with many more in the future.
La Opinion includes a toll-free number so readers can contact the consulate to get their Mexican IDs. They need a birth certificate, photo ID and proof of residence. (Nothing about proof of legal residence in the U.S. of course).
There’s a larger strategy here. Mexico is trying to facilitate dual citizenship so Mexicans can continue to receive benefits from the American government while still remaining a part of the Mexican nation. And it’s working.
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan`s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here ; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.

brianlee

Thursday, December 1, 2016