What is the real
issue in all of this? To me, it really is about holiness. I
Peter 1:14-16 says:
"As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
This basically
says we should not walk in our previous lusts as we did before we were
born-again in Jesus Christ. We are not
ignorant anymore. That was our only excuse back then. We did things
wrong and participated in things against God out of plain ignorance.
But now, we know that we are commanded to walk in a holy manner, in all
behavior just as it was written in days of old.
Leviticus
11: 44-45 - For I am the LORD your God:
ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God:
ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
[Emphasis added are
mine]
From Old to New
Covenant, the call for His people to be holy, for He is holy, is
unchanged. In the same manner that He did not want the Israelites to
participate in spiritual idolatry with other nations, He also expects
His New Covenant church to not participate in pagan rituals and
practices that honor, worship, and venerate other gods, no matter how
old in human history they may be. It is still considered spiritual
idolatry.
Romans 12:
2 -
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The new covenant
church is to be transformed, through revelation. Revelation renews the
mind. As our minds are renewed, our thinking changes and as our thinking
changes, we then walk differently then we did before the revelation.
When we walk according to revelation, we then prove, through our new
walk, what is the good, well-pleasing, and complete will of God.
Problem is
many of us don't want to repent. We don't want to change our ways
and yet God is commanding us, "Be holy in all manner of behavior
and godliness!" Which means we must respond to it.
No
doubt He has separated us from the world. No doubt He has overcome
sin. No doubt He has made us priests and kings to rule and reign
with Him, but we must walk these truths out. We must walk separated
from the world, being in it and not of it. Some of us look like we
were no different than the world. We must walk blameless and without
sin, yet
always walking humbly and continually repenting asking forgiveness as
He conforms us little by little, day by day, in the image of His
perfection, Jesus. We must walk as priest and kings, not phony prophets and
phony apostles that hypocritically say and expect one
thing, and yet, do another. We must respond to the call!
II
Corinthians 6:17a;7:1 - Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,…
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
We must purify
ourselves from the stains of walking according to the flesh.
How?
By not
walking in them anymore and walking in the Spirit, instead. We must
come out from among these things and be set apart as He has called us
to be holy. Holy means to be separated from sin, the things of this
world and the kingdom of darkness and, at the same time, consecrated
or dedicated to God and the things of the Kingdom of God and light.
Why
do we, who call ourselves born-again Christians, continue to walk in
the ways of this world, which are contrary to God? Why do we continue
to participate in out-rightly (some subtly) ungodly religious practices
and then call that which is evil, good, harmless and ineffectual
against our spiritual lives?
Isaiah 5:20 -
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
We, who are
supposedly priests and kings of the Most High God, continue to
practice and involve ourselves in pagan rituals (cleverly camouflaged)
that origin-ally were used to worship and revere other
gods. What do the scriptures say about drinking of the cup of demons
and the cup of the Lord?
I
Corinthians 10:20-22, 31, 32 - 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. 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.
Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
[Emphasis added are
mine]
This was spoken
of in reference to the communion that Christians partake of, the bread
and the wine. The
apostles knew about the rites and rituals of other nations. They
preached against partaking of them. They knew it would incite Jesus to
jealousy, just as the Israelites incited Him to jealousy in the Old
Covenant for partaking in the rites and rituals of pagan nations. They knew that their celebrations
contained sacrifices, not just merely to wooden or stone idols, but to
demons. Paul said you can't partake of both Jesus and of demons.
It's one or the other. Choose you this day whom you will serve! Paul, furthermore commanded this:
Ephesians
4:17-24 - This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto
lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ;
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
[Emphasis added are
mine]
As new creatures
in Christ we are obligated to walk in the light as He is in the light
(I John 1:7). To no longer walk as the rest of the world, who
walk in darkness. We have been translated from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of light. If we hear and obey Jesus, we will not walk in the
ways of the old man, who is deluded in its lusts. We will walk in the
renewing of the spirit of your mind, putting on the new creature that
was created in righteousness and mercy when we were born-again.
The
Jews believe and understand that there is one God
(Deuteronomy 6:4). There is no one else besides
Him (Isaiah 45:5). There are no other gods that can be
compared to Him (Isaiah 46:5,9). He alone made all of
creation (Isaiah 44:24; 45:7,18,).
They
were explicitly taught by God that He is one and that they should love
Him alone, with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength for this
was the greatest commandment. They knew that their neighboring nations
paid homage and worshipped a plethora of gods and had designated a
schedule to celebrate holidays for them. They were told to not learn
the way of the heathen or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens as
the heathens are dismayed. They were commanded not to follow along in
their customs for they were useless (Jeremiah 10:2). That
is simply akin to Him saying to no longer walk as the rest of the nations
(Reread scripture reference above).
Jesus,
never, ever, nope, not even once participated in these pagan celebrations
which were around in His day. The Jews, assuredly, had not celebrated
these pagan celebrations in Jerusalem, but they were surrounded with neighboring nations
who did. All of them had celebrations and designated times (holidays)
for their gods. These celebrations had been around long before God
ever manifested in the flesh and they were the same practices that God said
for Israel not to learn or partake of them.
The
only celebrations that Jesus took part in were those that were held in
Jerusalem. They were ordained by God to honor and remember His
promises and all His works of faithfulness which He had shown Israel in the past. Not a single apostle, before or after Jesus' ascension,
ever took part in celebrations that are now known today as Christmas,
Halloween, Easter, Valentine's or any other pagan celebration. Now,
grant it, these names were not used back then, but their celebrations
were practiced.
The
apostles simply knew better than to mix and fellowship with these
practices. They knew light had no fellowship with darkness (II
Corinthians 6:14). The light in which they walked in exposed the lies
and deception contained in the darkness of these practices and they
even commanded the Jews and Gentiles to abstain from these things (Acts 15:20,29).
What
happened and why do so many Christians celebrate the origin-ally
pagan ungodly "'holi'-days"? Two to Three centuries after the
apostles slept, a man named Constantine rose to power in Rome. He
needed to find a way to amalgamate and conform the nations, cultures
and barbarians that he was conquering to Rome. His idea was to partner
himself with the Catholic church and "Christianize" the
barbarians and their cultural practices (celebrations to their gods).
Pope Julius the 1st began to celebrate the birth of Jesus in 336 AD,
because all the pagans were already celebrating Mithra on December
25th. He simply changed the names and painted these gods (demons)
with different colors and called it "Christian" holidays and
celebrations. Instead of the them worshipping the sun god named Mithra
(who was celebrated and worshipped by the Persians since 700 BC) they changed
his name and said
in a nutshell, "Now his name is Jesus. You can continue your
practices, but you will use the name Jesus for your god." Have you ever heard the saying, "A rose by any other name, is
still a rose"?
For
the same reason that I don't celebrate Halloween, because of its
ungodly origins and veneration of evil, I don't celebrate Christmas,
Easter, or Valentines. It doesn't
matter to me what color it is painted: red, green, white, black, blue... we
should not be ignorant of the wiles of the devil (II Corinthians 2:11). His
plan is to get us to compromise in any area of our life in any way,
shape, or form. He'll even come to us as an angel of light, if we don't discern him (II Corinthians 11:14).
My
family and I choose not to drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of
demons (I Corinthians 10: 20-21). We choose Jesus and His holy
way.
Didn't you know...
there is a way of holiness?
Isaiah 35:8-10 -
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called
The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there;
but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
[Emphasis added are
mine]
Here is a
prophecy that speaks of a way that was coming, The Way of Holiness. In
actuality, "The Way"
has already been established because Jesus is "The Way". The
loathsome and offensive will not walk this way. It will only be for
"waywalkers" (those who choose to walk "The Way"
and take up their cross and follow Him) and fools will dare not walk
this "Way", for they refuse to repent of their evil ways and
follow Him.
On this way of holiness there is not
lion or ravenous being waiting to consume passerbys, for this is The
Way of Holiness. The redeemed of the Lord will return on this way with shouting and eternal
joy. Sorrow and grief
will flee away, because they have been redeemed by the precious blood
of the Lamb and these who return and come to Zion will shout for joy in their Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, the Holy Lamb of God.
