Lost in Translation

In my last blog posting, I recommended that some people throw their bible in the trash. I wasn’t kidding. It isn't that I think the Word of YHWH isn’t accurate, relevant, inspired, perfect, and true – it’s that many of the translations of men are not. Some of the problems are unintentional – man is flawed and limited. Some of the flaws of man is that, well – many people are evil. That is one of the reasons why so many English translations are so poor, it is a wonder anyone could ever find YHWH from reading them. They could read the book from cover-to-cover and never once see the name of God, when knowing His Name is a big part of salvation. The other flaw of English translations is the English language itself. The Scriptures were originally given by God in Hebrew, a language perfectly suited to convey the perfect, multilayer, dense, and amazing Words of YHWH. It takes entire paragraphs in English to convey the real meaning behind one or two very important Hebrew words. Hebrew is dynamic, with messages being timeless – so when YHWH gave one promise to one individual, the promise would be timeless and open to any individual to come into covenant relationship with Him. This is why the fallacy of two covenants or an “old” covenant and a “new” covenant are so devastating – the Word of YHWH was always timeless and across generations. Hebrew was originally a pictorial language and seeing some of the attempts to recreate those pictographs is amazing, we get to see the perfection of the Word and how YHWH had His ultimate plan in place from the very beginning.

Some of the biggest problems with English translations of the bible is that they aren’t translations of the original Hebrew scriptures, they are translations of the Latin Vulgate, which was a translation of the Greek Septuagint.  Why is that a problem? Well, Greek is not Hebrew for one. The second is that the Greek Septuagint wasn’t a pure translation from Hebrew. The first reason is that because some Hebrew words could not be translated into Greek – including the name of God, YHWH (or Yahoshua or the Set Apart Spirit). As a result, divine placeholders were put in place to let people know the names had not be translated. However, those placeholders were eventually removed and other names (some pagan and some simply made up) were put into those places. The second problem is that Greece and the Greek language had a history of something called “Hellenism”. This is the practice of taking lots of different religions and blending them together. This is why when you open your King James bible and read Numbers 23:22, Job 39:9, and even Psalm 29:6 you will see the word “unicorn”. You will not find the word “unicorn” in Hebrew, because unicorns exist only in Greek mythology. In a bible translated from Hebrew you will find the word “wild ox” or simply “ox”. However, the Greek Septuagint was filled with Greek mythology and paganism mixed in with Hebrew Scripture. So, when someone tells you the King James Bible is the most “accurate” translations, they are talking about the best translation from the Greek and they are talking about a book which isn’t simply about the Hebrew God, the Creator of the universe who was kind enough to extend to all humanity a chance of eternal life and relationship; they are talking about a book that mixed this Hebrew God in with some Greek gods, some sun god worship, and a bit of paganism. I know, it’s hard to swallow – look it up for yourself.

One HUGE problem that can be find in most English bibles is the disturbing act of translating from Hebrew, then transliterating from Greek names found in the Scripture. See, words are translated – that means a word in one language is given an equivalent word in the new language. For instance, we translate the Spanish word “uno” into “one” in English. However, names are supposed to be transliterated. That means the name stays the same, it is just spelled in such a way that it can be accurately pronounced in the new language. So a Spanish man named Eduardo will still be called Eduardo in English; we don’t go and change his name to Edward. However, all through the Bible Hebrew individuals were stripped of their Hebrew and God given name and given a Greek name. The first time this was done with an individual was Hawwah. Hawwah was Adam’s wife, her name means “life giver”. Instead of transliterating her name so it could be accurately spoken in Greek, then English – they simply renamed her “Eve”, which means “life giver” in Greek. However, instead of translating her name as “Life Giver” into English, they then began again to transliterate. So, we adamantly call her by a Greek name as if that is the one given to her by her husband. The problem with not transliterating her name is that part of her name, Hawwah, is also a part of God’s Name YHWH (pronounced Yahowah). See, if we could say “Hawwah” we could easily say God’s true and personal name “Yahowah”. This stripping of Hebrew names took place throughout the bible, including with the names of books of the bible. For instance, the book in English known as “Exodus” is really the book “Shemoth”. Ironically, Shemoth does NOT mean “Exodus”, it means NAMES! God was so adamant about the importance on names he had Mosheh (that would be Moses in your English bible) let us know the book should be called Names. Instead, in arrogance that could only come from Greece and Rome itself – they stripped the Scriptures of the significance of names – see the problem?

The problem with stripping people of the Hebrew names they were given is that it stripes away some of the very clear messages YHWH was trying to give us. For instance, Yahoshua is the name of the ha Ma'aseyah. That is right, it isn’t “Messiah”, it is ha Ma’aseyah, which means the “Work of Yah”. Yahoshua means “Yah saves” – that message isn’t conveyed in the slightest through the Greek and Latin made of name of Iesus which was later changed to “Jesus”. We know the name Jesus is completely made up since the letter “J” didn’t exist until the 1500’s. In fact, if they were going to translate the name of Yahoshua into English as spoken today (and anytime after the 1550's) – His name would be rendered Joshua (exactly as Joshua, son of Nun). At least if they would have done that it would have been much easier for people to transition to His actual name of Yahoshua. Instead, as I have been told by many they aren’t willing to “give us their Jesus”.  To that, I have to say you can hold on to whatever name you want, just don’t think that YHWH has to respect human corruptions of His Word – especially those that were done intentionally to disrespect Him, mock Him, and test Him. The name changes were not done out of ignorance, they were done out of arrogance. They were done because man thought himself equal enough to God to change His Name, the Name of His Son, and the name of anyone else they chose. Unlike the scene in roots, where Kunta Kentee finally relinquishes from the beating and declares that his name is indeed Toby; God will do NO SUCH THING! He gave us His Name, YHWH (pronounced Yahowah), 7,000 times in Scripture. He told us His Son would come in HIS NAME, Yahoshua is coming in the name of Yahowah; Jesus has absolutely NO connection to Yahowah.

My advice to you is to look up for yourself and verify the things I have written. My best advice is to visit the website Yada Yahweh http://www.yadayahweh.com/ to get some of the best and well researched information in regards to the Scriptures you can find. The next thing is that as you are probably at the mercy of English translations of the Scriptures for now – find some that were translated from the original Hebrew for what is commonly called the “Old Testament” and those based on Aramaic and Hebrew origins of the Greek for the “New Testament”. However, be aware that the “New Testament” has a lot of translation issues among other pretty big issues. Advice again – start with the BEGINNING of your Bible – in Genesis (Bereshith). I would recommend getting a copy of The Scriptures, a translation of the bible from the Institute for Scripture Research. The http://www.halleluyahscriptures.com/ scriptures would be even better and can be downloaded for free on your computer. Get truth. It will make you uncomfortable, stretch you, and you will end up questioning everything. Good! In the end you will realize the God really is the Creator of the universe, He had a plan for your salvation from the beginning, and you can KNOW HIM!

Stolen Identity

I would like to report a crime. This is a crime of the greatest case of identity theft to ever be perpetuated on mankind. This crime was absolutely heinous and the groups that did it pretty much got away with it - mostly. It would be wrong for me not to do my part to try and correct this crime against humanity - so here goes.
Remember the movie "the Net" with Sandra Bullock? Remember how with one keystroke her identity was completely wiped away - taking from her all the things that made her unique, that said to the world that she did indeed exist? That happened in real life to someone I know. It wasn't recent, it happened before computers; it can't be contributed to an innocent keystroke error. This crime took place well over 2,000 years ago.
The One whose identity was stripped was not a man, it was the identity of God Himself. Not only did this happen once, it has been happening continuously and it needs to stop.
The first time this crime was committed, it was done by Jewish Rabbi's. They created a false myth, found no where in Scripture, that the name of God was not to be spoken. This commandment against speaking God's proper name cannot be found anywhere in Scripture. It is erroneously based on the 3rd Commandment in which it is written to not take the name of God in vain. The irony is that like Hawwah (I know, your "bible" says Eve, but that wasn't her name), they added to the Scriptures. See, God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, by the time Hawwah was speaking with satan in the garden she said they were not even to "touch" the tree. Of course, shortly after she added to the Word of God - she not only touched the tree violating a man made commandment - she also ate from the tree violating God's Commandment. So too is the story of the Rabbis'. Shortly after they added to the Commandment by saying one could not even speak the name of God, they violated their man made commandment. To keep from violating their made up commandment even further, they kept piling on more and more ridiculous rules. First they added letters over the name of God so that people wouldn't pronounce it correctly. When people, in pronouncing the new made up name, still said some of the actual name of God - they took the name out of Scripture completely. They then replaced the name of God with the name "Adoni" - which means master. Of course, God never told us to call him "Master", but this word is also the proper name of a false god - baal. They even went so far a to say people couldn't speak or write the name Elohim - which means God. This is not God's name, but His title - however, they wouldn't even let people say that. When Jewish people write God today they will often write "G-d" so as not to violate a commandment that never even existed. Others will say only "HaShem" which means "the Name" or intentionally mispronounce Elohim by saying elokim. Of course, all this gymnastics has led Jewish people for thousands of years to follow firmly in the footsteps of Hawwah; you see, part of not taking the name of God in vain is to not let is be seen as nothingness. However, that is just what they have done - the proper and personal name of God hasn't been spoken in a synagog or from the mouth of a devout Jew in thousands of years. The Rabbis went so far as the change the way the Hebrew language was written and spoken to keep people away from God's proper and personal name.
While that is a sad and terrible account, Christianity isn't one iota better on this matter. While they have had every opportunity to correct this error of Judaism, they have chosen to keep the error and ratchet it up even more. Instead of using the proper and personal name of God in scripture - every English Bible with the exception of 2 or 3 obscure ones you must search for like a detective, they have chosen to substitute the name of God AND His Son the Messiah with not only the name of the false god baal, but also made up names that have absolutely NO connection with their honest rendering. For instance, turn in your bible to Exodus 15:3 and if your bible says "the Lord is a man of battle, the Lord is His Name - go to the garbage and throw it away. Okay, is that too much. Turn to Isaiah 42:8, if your bible starts out with "I am the Lord, that is My Name" - now throw it away. Why? Well, read the rest of that scripture - if you don't think your bible replacing the name of God with the name of an idol violates that very scripture; Houston, we have a problem!
So, what is God's name? I am glad you asked! God wrote His name for us almost 7,000 times in scripture. An English rendering of His Name is spelled YHWH. While English pronunciations vary (mainly because Christian and Jewish leaders for thousands of years have intentionally suppressed the name for a number of reasons), the most well researched phonetic pronunciation I have found is "Yah-O-Wah".
So, whats wrong with saying "Lord"? Well, number one - that isn't His Name. He told us His Name almost 7,000 times, He introduced Himself to us in the most beautiful, wonderful, caring, loving, and amazing ways - how could we not be respectful enough to use His Name? Imagine if your spouse insisted on calling you by the name of the last person they dated before they met you? Would you be okay with that? What about if parents called you a nickname you detested and told them you detested? What if your children decided to forsake the traditional "mom" or "dad" and simply call you "fart face"?
The other, and most important, reason for using His Name is that we were clearly told in Scripture that salvation depends on 1)Knowing His Name, and 2) Calling upon His Name. Do you really want to take the chance of getting His Name wrong? If your okay with that, I will start calling you "dumb ass" and I am sure you will be okay with that - after all, its just a name.
And since I mentioned it briefly - the name of the Messiah, YHWH's only begotten Son is not "Jesus" or "Christ" or "Lord", His name is Yahoshua which means "Yah Saves". If translated into English (which it shouldn't be because names are not translated, they are transliterated) it would be Joshua. Yes, the exact same name used for Joshua, Son of Nun - with the same meaning. The name Jesus (which started as Iesus because the letter "J" was invented until the 1500's) is at best a made up name. At worst, it is the name of a Greek sun god. Every time you call upon the names of "Jesus" and "Lord" - no matter how your heart feels, you are disrespecting God. He was the victim of a crime, as was all of humanity when His Name was taken from us. If the people in the movie Roots had enough respect to go back to calling the main character "Kunta Kentee" instead of the false slavery imposed name of "Toby", surely we can give as much respect to the creator of the Universe. Revelations clearly says to the messenger of the assembly in Philadelphia in Revelation (Hazon) 3:8 "I know your works - see, I have set before you an open door, and no one is able to shut it - that you have little power, yet have guarded My Word, and have not denied My Name." Philadelphia gets welcomed with an open arm. However, Laodikeia is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold - a little wishy washy. Sound a little like people who think that any old name will do? Ones that think the Creator of the Universe can be renamed at will by any rabbi, priest, pope, preacher, or teacher who decides His name is too hard, too sacred, too Jewish - so they will just call him whatever they please? Maybe its time for a choice. Maybe its time to decide if you are going to be a Philadelphian or a dumb ass.

My REAL Journey Home

When I started this blog, I thought the focus would be on my quitting my full time job to stay home with my kids. I had no idea this journey would be so much bigger. This isn’t just about me finding my place as wife and mother; it is about me truly finding God.

Those who know me are probably wondering if I have lost my mind! What do I mean “finding God”, I have been a practicing Christian since I was a young teenager. For over 20 years I thought I knew God, boy was I wrong. Here I was, worshiping a God and I didn’t even know His name! Oh, I thought I knew His name – it was “God” right? Maybe His name was “Lord”. At least that is what my Bible said.  I never actually read those beginning notes – you know all those pages before Genesis 1:1. I had no idea that the true name of God had been removed from the scriptures, first by Jewish Rabbis, then by Catholic Priests. God has a name and He declared it almost 7,000 times in scripture – His name is YHWH and it is pronounced “Ya Ho Weh”. He was so clear about His name being known that He gave us a commandment about it. We say “don’t take the name of “the Lord” in vain, but the Commandment is more than that – we are to not let His name come to naught. And, His name is not “the Lord”. In fact, in additional to the title “Lord” mean master, it also means “baal” – you know that false god the children is Israel often got in trouble for worshiping? Yes indeed, whenever we magnify “the Lord” we are more accurately calling on a false pagan god than on the One True God – YHWH.

As I did more digging and studying, I found out that most of my religious walk as a Christian consisted of openly breaking Commandments YHWH had been clear about as well as outright pagan worship. Oh yes, it was dressed up to look pretty and had nice “Christian” words associated with it – like “Christmas”, but all those things were pagan through and through. The more I dug the more I realized I wasn’t worshiping YHWH at all, in fact – the steeped I got in the practice of my religion the more I was twisting scripture. Everything from Sunday worship to Easter was purely pagan to the core. My heart was right, my motivations were right – but I had been deceived! The deception was thousands of years old and intentional. I stood in horror as I looked at my feet sure in the foundations of my faith – only to find they were on sinking sand. I looked in horror as I found that even the Bible I held in my hand had been corrupted by men.

So, this blog will be dedicated to my journey home – home to my Father YHWH as I learn more and grow more. Now, for those still reading and not already fasting and praying for my deliverance – here are some things I will explain right up front. Here are the things that I believe are true:

1.       There is one true and living God and His name is YHWH

2.       He has one begotten Son and His name is Yahoshua (we will get to this name later)

3.       There is but ONE way to God, and that is through His Son; you cannot work your way into heaven, you cannot be good enough or perfect enough

4.       The Word of God is TRUE and infallible; however, translation errors and intentional corruption of scripture makes our learning of that True Word take more than just a passive approach. We must study hard, look at multiple translations, go to as close to the original sources as possible, and make our beliefs line up with the Word instead of trying to make the Word line up with our beliefs.

5.       The “Old Testament” is still valid today and the plan of salvation was laid out for us even through the words of Moses. The “New Testament” is valid in that is confirms the prophecies about the Messiah and His coming. The NT is also the most challenging because it has been subject to a lot of corruption due to several issues 1)Language – the Greek language, which is what the oldest found manuscripts of the NT were written in was plagued by pagan names and Hellenistic  work, 2) Incomplete Manuscripts – there has been NO intact manuscript of the NT found and there are over 3,000 discrepancies found in many of the letters between texts that have been used to translate the NT; these discrepancies are not found in the OT 3) Forgeries – some of the biggest forgeries are found in the writings attributed to Paul with most of the books attributed to Paul now being considered by Biblical scholars to be “questionable”.

So, the next big question is “am I a Christian”? This one is a hard one. Christianity has been such a HUGE part of who I am, most of my friends are Christians, I know the language and lingo, I know the customs and traditions, many of the most important aspects of my life and my most important moments in life were defined in my Christian faith, and even though I had an incomplete view of God – I met Him through Christianity. With that said, there are many defining aspects of Christianity that I no longer accept. For instance, the Christian holy days of Christmas and Easter I can no longer participate in. I believe man had no right to change the Sabbath nor to discontinue the practice of the Set Apart Times declared by God (like Passover). And most importantly, my Savior is named Yahoshua, not Jesus; Christ my God is named YHWH, not Lord. This is more than changing from Baptist to Methodist.

So, do I have a church? Right now we are still on the rolls at our Primitive Baptist Church, we still attend on many Sunday’s and we still regularly pay our tithes there. So no, I am not just trying to “get out of tithing”. Like I said, this is a journey. I would say we are moving closer to a more Messianic walk in our faith, but not so much “Orthodox Jews that believe in Jesus”. It’s really quite hard to define, so I will say this is more about relationship than religion. I can’t say how this will all play out – heck our church’s pastor may read this blog and kick us out, after all – I would be a Christian that doesn’t celebrate Easter!

So, again, welcome to my journey home. I think it will be an exciting one!

"The Law" and Grace

I have found nothing can divide a room of Christians more than mentioning "the Law". Wait isn't true, it doesn't truly divide the room - it causes everyone to be in agreement about one key thing - we are not, under any circumstances, never, never ever, did I mention never - to obey "the Law". When I inquire as to why exactly I get the "we are not under the Law, we are under Grace" comment. So, Christians are "lawless"? I am told we are not really lawless, we are just not "under the law". What exactly does that mean? We either have to follow the Law or we don't have to follow the Law. Am I to believe that a God who was very clear in the "Old Testament" somehow became a bit muddled in His ideas in the "New Testament". Do we follow the Law or do we not?
I know, Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law - but what does that mean? Many Christians interpret this to mean that He finished it, since He obeyed it we are exempt from obeying it. Okay. This comment makes sense only if we chose not to define exactly what this Law is.
The Law is often referred to as the Torah. Many Christians fail to realize there are two different "Laws" mentioned in the New Testament. The first is God's Law, that is the Torah. The second, commonly referred to as the Oral Torah was man's law. In an effort to keep people from disobeying the Torah, rabbis' and priests over the years chose to put a "fence" around the Torah. These were rules that were more strict than the Torah to keep people far enough away from the Torah that they would never transgress it.
This introduced a couple of problems. The first is that one command in the Torah is to not add or take away from it. So, in adding the "fence" around the Torah those Hebrew leaders were in fact - breaking the Torah! The second is Moses was already clear that the Torah wasn't too hard for people to obey. They didn't need any help in obeying it, it wasn't too high, too hard, or too much. The third is that God never puts a "fence" around sin. When God put Adam and Eve into the garden He didn't put a fence around the tree of knowledge of good and evil. His Word should be fence enough. If you love Him you obey. Finally, many rules added to "fence" the Torah would automatically require people to break the Torah to obey them and they even made the Torah too hard to obey!
When I first started my journey to understand the foundations of my faith, I didn't know much about the Torah. Yes, I can admit I didn't even know the "Laws" I could now freely break or not break or kind of break or break but be forgiven - well, I didn't know the Torah! I thought the Torah was just about sacrificing birds and bulls on an alter so that my sins could be "forgiven" and of course Jesus did that! Well, that actually isn't what the Torah is about. Yes, there are sacrifices - but those don't "forgive" your sins - was was just an atonement until Jesus came. Also, you couldn't sacrifice just anywhere, you could only sacrifice in the temple. So, today there is not temple and hasn't been for almost 2000 years. So, no burning birds on the alter.
However, the other rules for living according to the Torah are, for lack of a better word, brilliant! They discuss how to conduct business, how to treat your employees, how to treat your neighbor, how to treat your spouse. They discuss keeping God's appointed times (those things we refer to as Jewish holidays - when they were created before there was a people called "Jews").
So, if Jesus came to "fill all the requirements" of the Torah, does that mean one no longer has to pay their employees on time? Does that mean one no longer has to lend to the poor? Does that mean it is now good and acceptable to touch dead bodies? See, when you become familiar with the Torah you begin to see the absurdity of thinking it was done away with. The Torah doesn't even mean "Law", that was a Greek to English translation error. Torah refers to the first five books of the Bible and there were 613 Torah commands within those five books.
As a note - Jesus never broke one Torah command in his life. Some might say - no, the Bible says he healed on the Sabbath and that was against the Torah. No, it wasn't. There is no command in the written Torah, the Torah given by God that one cannot heal on the Sabbath! Now, the oral law created by the Pharisees, did have such commands. Jesus often did things that were against the Pharisee additions to the Torah (the Oral Torah) just to show that one needs not obey man, but one must obey God. Jesus was our example, our guide, and our example.
Another point before I go from this blog posting - the Torah never saved! To say that we no longer need to obey the Torah because we have Jesus is crazy. Jesus said He alone was the Way, the Truth, and the Light and NO MAN can go to the Father except through Him. Period. Even if Abraham and Moses kept EVERY statute of the Torah, they still could not ascend to the Father until after Jesus died and rose and took dominion over death and hell. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob all needed the Messiah just as you and I. Jesus stepped out of time and redeemed all the people of God - those who died before He came and those who died after He came. Obedience is not salvation. Obedience is our outward manifestation of our hope of and belief in our salvation. How can we get more clear than the words of Jesus Himself: If you love Me, keep my commandments. John 14:15. Interestingly - when Jesus spoke of the greatest two commandments "Loving God with all your heart and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself" - He was speaking of two specific commands in the Torah. And yes, that does sum up all the Torah. The rest of the Torah (including the Ten Commandments) go on to tell us HOW to do those two things.
For those wondering - I do not at this time obey the entire Torah. The reason is because I am still learning the Torah. I belong to a religion that has neglected not only the following of, but the teaching of the Torah for over 1500. The more I learn, the more I try to do. I honestly don't even know if I am doing it "right", I am hard pressed to find Christian resources on following the Torah, even our of choice and not obligation.
Again, let me be clear that obeying the Torah will NOT get me into Heaven. The ONLY way to the Father is through Jesus and there is nothing I can do to earn that. However, like any child - I still have to obey my Father. He saved my life, now He gets to tell me how to live that life, which belongs to Him. I don't have to wonder how God wants me to live - He was clear about that thousands of years ago. I don't assume perfection even when I learn it - the children of Israel disobeyed shortly after being delivered miraculously from Egypt. I don't have to be perfect, but I do need to try. I only need to work to stay within the guidelines of the written Torah, not the additional man made commands clearly demonstrated by Jesus to be outside the Torah. And again, even if I were to be perfect in each and every one - they would NOT make me "saved" and it wouldn't make me any more "saved" than a person not following any of the Torah. The Torah is not about salvation, it is about how God expects His people to live on the earth. It is Creator detailing how He expects His creation to interact with Him and with their fellow man. Yes, someone can follow the Torah and not be saved because Jesus said He was the Way and no one gets to the Father except through Him. Yet He also clearly indicated in John 14 that a sign of our love for Him was following the Torah. The Torah is a bit like an engagement ring. It simply identifies to others that you belong to someone. It is a sign of your love, not your love itself. Once can be engaged without a ring - but it makes people suspect about that love. One can also wear a ring and be unfaithful and even have no intention in truly going through with the wedding. The ring isn't magic just as the Torah isn't magic. The ring can change the heart and God looks at the heart. However, it is from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks and when we loudly declare we are not subject to the commands of God - well, I will leave that to the reader to decide.

How I became a pagan worshiper!

Okay, my goal was never to be a pagan worshiper. Nothing, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. So, I almost fainted, died, then fainted again when I found out some of the "traditions" I had been celebrating as part of my religious beliefs and expression were in fact - pagan worship!
I will cover the one that was the most revealing, most stunning, and caused my heart the most pain - the celebration of the Easter holiday. I had always been taught we celebrated Easter in honor of Christ rising on the third day. Easter has been celebrated in every religious denomination I have ever encountered. I remember being absolutely offended when people would be going about selling chocolate bunnies (although I remember eating them, loving them, and even looking forward to receiving them as a child). I remember not really understanding that the egg thing was about - but gladly went about finding eggs, taking my kids to find eggs, and even hosting eggs hunts at my home.
I saw over the past few years some churches move from calling the holiday "Easter" to calling it "Resurrection Sunday". I thought - oh good, we are taking back "our" holiday! Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that calling Easter "Resurrection Sunday" still wasn't "taking it back" or making it Christian - it was still very much in line with the pagan worship that was involved in celebrating Easter - even before the time of Christ.
While most of my research has been on the internet - secular and religious websites all agree on the history of the Easter holiday and how it became a part of Christian religious tradition. I will share what I  learned. Most of this outline comes from the page titled "Pagan Origin of Easter" from www.lastrumpetministries.org. However, this timeline is consistent with four other religious and secular websites and is not disputed on any Christian website.
Ham, the son of Noah, had a son name Cush. Cush married a woman named Semiramis and they had a son named Nimrod. After Cush died, Nimrod married his mother (Semiramis) and became a powerful king. The Bible speakd of Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-10. Nimrod became a "god-man" to the people and with wife/mother became Queen of ancient Babylon. Nimrod was killed by an enemy and his body was cut into pieces and sent away. Semiramis gathered all the parts except one - his reproductive organ. Semiramis said that Nimrod could not come back to life without it and told the people of Babylon that Nimrod ascended to the sun and was now to be called "Baal", the sun god.
Semiramis called she was the result of immaculate conception and that the moon was her mother. She claimed that she came down from the moon in a giant - Egg! Semiramis became known as "Ishtar" which is pronounce "Easter" and her moon egg became known as "Ishtar's egg". Get it - "Easter's egg".
Isthar had a son Tammuz and she claimed it was Baal who impregnated her. Tammuz liked hare's (or rabbits) and they became sacred in the ancient religion because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god Baal. Tammuz was killed by a wild boar (pig). Ishtar claimed some of Tammuz's blood fell on a stump of an evergreen tree and the stump grew into a full new tree overnight. Isthar told the people Tammuz has now "ascended" to his father the "sun-god" Baal. They were to celebrate this occassion every year on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Ishtar's Sunday was celebrated with rabbits and eggs. It was always about a "resurrection". The word "Easter" appears in the King James Bible in Acts chapter 12:4 - but it was Herod that was about to celebrate Easter! Herod was a pagan and he was waiting until after celebrating his pagan holiday to kill Peter.
So, how did this pagan holiday get into the Christian church? Christians and Jews used to worship in the same temple and celebrate the same holidays. They would normally be celebrating passover. However, as tensions rose between Christians and Jews there was a separation. More and more "gentiles" - which means a pagan worshiper, began to join the congregation of believers. However, instead of instructing them to leave their pagan worship and worship as God alone instructed, it is believed they allowed them to continue with their former pagan worship and simply make it "Christian". This is similar to the golden calf situation that happened after God lead the Isralites out of Egypt. They wanted to offer a golden calf to God. Golden calves were a large part of pagan worship and God wanted none of it. He never authorized pagan holidays to be simply "turned into" Christian holidays. We are to leave the old man and embrace our new identity. Celebrating a pagan holiday, in a completely pagan way, and simply changing the name. They were doing what God never said do, doing what Jesus never said do; they decided to bring their pagan religion into the church and force God to accept it by claiming Tammuz now represented Jesus and Baal represented God.
I am beginning to see much more clearly why God was so specific in His commands and also why He told us to put off the "old man". It is at least time for me to listen to God and do what He said. We were commanded to not add to His law nor take away. So, I will still be worshiping - just observing the things God instructed. So - Happy Passover!

Christians and the Sabbath - Part 3

So, should Christians honor the Sabbath? This is only my opinion from the research that I have done. I believe Christians, should in fact, honor the Sabbath. The Sabbath honors something that wasn't simply Jewish Law, it honors something that happened before there was a such thing a Jews - it honors God as the Creator of the universe. In fact, I am actually perplexed that many Christians find the concept of the Sabbath so offensive. To me, the Sabbath represents the realization that all Power is in the hands of God and what will happen in our lives will be the will of the Father. We cannot toil long enough, hard enough, or good enough - we are living under the grace and mercy of a Loving God and has all power in His hands.
Now, when should one celebrate the Sabbath? Well, on the Sabbath! The Sabbath was about rest, not about church. The Sabbath was designed before the church on a pattern that took place before the church began. There is nothing stopping a Christian from honoring the Sabbath on the Sabbath and worshiping in church with other believers on the Lord's Day - on Sunday. I think the debate on this is a bit ill conceived, one can do both. I am not okay with man thinking he can change the Commandments on God to suit his own needs or correlate with man made tradition. Many people worshiped in the temple on more than one day - not just the Sabbath. So, going to church on Sunday is also not a violation of God's Law. There is nothing that says one should only get involved in corporate worship on day a week or one particular day a week. The Sabbath isn't a "church day", it is a rest day.
How should a Christian celebrate the Sabbath? I believe this is personal. We have traditional Jewish and Adventist practices as a model. However, the stipulation that God gave was simply that one should cease from their labor. Labor was a way in which people earned their living and provided for their home. What is labor to me may not be labor to you. For instance, a woodworker earns their living from working with wood - they should probably not do work for profit on the Sabbath. However, a family may enjoy woodworking as a family activity - I don't think they should be forbidden from having family time doing wood crafts. However, if the focus of the craft is finishing a "honey do" list - then it probably shouldn't be done. For some women, cooking is their labor. They don't really enjoy it, but do it simply because it must be done. They should probably put on a crock pot, buy a meal, or fix something that doesn't involve cooking so they can have a Sabbath rest. For others, it may be they enjoy cooking and spend time together as a family preparing a meal together. The consistent thing from all Sabbath traditions is being with ones family and being reminded of "why" they are resting. Not because they are tired, not because God was tired. They should remind themselves that on the seventh day God rested because what He had set in motion was completed for all eternity - we should be reminded of this each and every Sabbath.
Some people don't go to parties or do anything out of the house on the Sabbath. That is fine for them and I don't think it is bad. However, if there is a party that wouldn't be "work" that the entire family could enjoy - I would think it would be fair game. Again, honoring the Sabbath isn't about what you "can't do", its about being reminded in our entire being as to what God DID, and finished (meaning the end of days was completed, it is all in the Hands of God).  Let's keep the Sabbath what is was intended for, a time for man to cease from laboring and striving for what God has already determined, provided, and accomplished.
However, lets not get into legalism (yes, I said it - LOL). Yes, going to the hospital and praying for someone might be work, and hard work - that doesn't mean you say "no, its the Sabbath". Your neighbor needing a hand, someone getting a flat tire in front of your house, the boy down the street losing his dog and seeking someone to help him find it, and even your child attending a birthday party for someone that doesn't have a lot of friends and has been feeling depressed, sad, and unloved - do it. Remember, Jesus said the highest Commandment was to love God with all your heart and the second was to love our neighbor - show love, even if it means doing some work on the Sabbath!
How my family plans to celebrate the Sabbath is to be together as a family. No mommy grading papers, no daddy putting up shutters on the house. The kids love cutting the grass with daddy - so you might see everyone outside cutting the grass. For us, that isn't work (okay, for my husband and kids - I am not a big nature girl!) This Sabbath, my husband will be taking my eldest to watch a robotics competition. Yes, I said we do things as a family; however, there is life involved. Even in biblical times women with babies were not expected to participate in some things. We also know that a baby was considered a child 5 and under. My twins are 4, they are still babies. This means some things we need to be exempted from so that I can tend to my babies. My babies (thankfully) still nap daily (God is SO GOOD). They need a nap for their health as babies need more sleep than others. If, in trying to be a Sabbath family - I neglected my duties as parent, that wouldn't be showing love nor honoring God. So, we will not all be together for part of the day. However, I think we are still honoring the Sabbath as I will allow the twins to take their nap in my bed while I read a book. I LOVE reading - it is restful! They love sleeping in our bed. My husband and my eldest love robots - its works. However, once my twins have passed the baby stage, everything will be entire family based for the day.
I look at the Sabbath as a wonderful gift from God. Its beautiful and lovely - and so needed in this time where is seems we are all going a million miles a minute!To have a day when we can just stop! Stop striving, stop climbing, stop trying to navigate our way and remind ourselves that God is in control - how wonderful! A day when I don't have to be superwoman - yippee! Yes, superwoman homeschooling the kids, teaching college courses, cooking, cleaning, etc., etc., etc. It's exhausting! Being able to say - thank you Lord, I can sit down. I can't sit down because "I" am finished, but because "He" is finished. It reminds me that if I don't get to that math lesson - its okay, God will make sure my children learn it in due time - whether it be from me or School House Rock it will get done.
Of course, there is preparation for the Sabbath! Remember when the children of Israel were in the wilderness - God had them gather a double portion of manna on the six day. This was to ensure they could rest on the Sabbath. That means I probably need to do an extra load of laundry on my six day, or get those papers graded NOW, or get the roast defrosted and in the oven pronto! So, another thing the Sabbath does is keep us from procrastinating! Isn't God so smart! I don't get to say "hey, I didn't get that done and since its the Sabbath you have to wait!" That isn't right and it isn't showing love to the people I promised I would get things to. It means I need to get moving to honor my commitments. It also means I should NOT over commit! We are working seven days a week because we are committing all of our time and being too busy. I need to be cognizant of the time I am allowed to give others - six days. I need to make sure I am not committing to seven, not promising seven, and I shouldn't even try to sneak seven days of work into six days. In neglecting the Sabbath we have been exhausting ourselves and this was never the plan of God. This isn't legalism, its sanity! How many Christians today have illness because they are tired and overworked? How many are so stressed it is taking a toll on their marriage? How many so tired from laboring they are taking it out on their kids? Even children today are busy seven days a week - enough already. Lets get back into God's plan by first reminding ourselves whom is really in control - God!

Christians and the Sabbath, Part 2

So what is the Sabbath?

It is well documented and universally understood that the Sabbath is from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday. In Genesis the Bible says that "the evening and the morning were the first day" and so on. Its interesting the note that first century Christians, who were mostly Jewish Christians (known today as Messianic Jews) worshiped in the same temples as non-Christian Jews. Gentiles that came to know Christ also worshiped in the same temples. In fact, many of the discords found in the Bible, and many scriptures that are confused today (like dietary laws) are often a result of non-Christian Jews setting up additional requirements before a Gentile would be considered "clean" enough to enter the temple. Christian Jews understood it was Jesus that cleansed both the Jews and the Gentiles and anyone that wanted could enter the temple. However, this didn't mean one no longer needed to follow the Commandments of God! It was just that following those Commandments didn't lead to salvation. The question is - can a murderer get to heaven? Yes, they can. However, that doesn't mean Christians (Gentile or Jewish) should go around murdering people! Paul clearly dealt with this fallacy! We are not to offend the Law purposely or not due to our "get out of hell free card". We must still work to keep the Law (all the Law) while we acknowledge even being perfect in this regard is not enough - only Jesus can cleanse us. In fact, keeping of the Law for Christians isn't about cleansing, its about being obedient to one True and Living God and acknowledging that we realize we belong to God - its He that made us and we no longer belong to ourselves. In keeping of the Law I would be saying to myself, my family, my God, and showing the world that I am a child of God. If asked why I keep the Law my answer is to be simply - because God said so. Its not about sacrifice, its about obedience. Its not about cleansing or holiness or self-righteousness - again it is simply about being obedient to my Father.
So, if Christian and Non-Christian Jews, as well as Christian Gentiles were all worshiping together in the temple, honoring the Sabbath together - what changed? Why did Christians stop worshiping on Sunday. It took searching, but I finally found the answer. The answer is consistent in both Jewish, Christian, and Secular accounts. From 66 - 73 there was a revolt against Rome by a Non-Christian Jewish sect. Although at first successful in driving Rome from Jerusalem, the revolt was brutally crushed by Rome with men, women, and children being slaughtered. Not wanting to be wrongly identified as being a part of this revolt, Christians (Jewish and Gentile) tried to distinguish themselves from those Jews that has revolted against Rome. With the Sabbath had traditionally been the Christian day of worship, it was decided that Jewish and non-Jewish Christians would worship on Sunday. Why Sunday? Sunday was already a "holy" day in Rome. It was known as "the Lord's Day". However, the "Lord" they were referring to was actually the Emperor! Christians felt they could begin to worship on the "the Lord's Day", but actually be worshiping the true Lord, and not the false god of Nero and later Vespasian. Of course, this was the first time there was a distinguishing between Christians and Jews in terms of worship. They had always been worshiping the same God.
After the revolt was crushed and the temple destroyed - Jews and Christians were dispersed throughout Rome. The temple had always been "home base" until that time. After this dispersment did such strong distinctions come between Jews and Christians, not just about Jesus Messiah - but even in the interpretation of scripture. This led to quite a bit of, for lack of a better word - antisemitism in the Christian Church. The Christian Church, now centered in the heart of Rome (due in large part to Roman Emperor Constantine) began to advise strongly against "jewdising" of Christianity. It was from this point forward that Christians have looked not to Jerusalem for the foundations of their faith, the interpretation of scripture, and the promises of the Bible - but to Rome. This was the time in which Christian interpretation became not the joining in with the chosen people of God in the abundant blessings of God - but in the usurping of and taking away. It actually reminds me of the old testament story of Jacob and Esau. It is how I more fully understand why there is a fraction between Messianic Jews (or Christian Jews) and other Christians.
I am in no way saying Christians should become Jews. I am saying the Bible was set in a time even before there was a people called "Jews", it is a Hebraic history. We must look to accurately divide the Word of God, basing it not upon Rome or Israel - but upon the roots for which is stands. I am not disparaging my Catholic brothers and sisters, just as I am not disparaging my Jewish brothers and sisters. I am saying our God is not Catholic or Jewish (although our Savior was indeed raised as a Jew and lived as  Jew, died as a Jew, and rose as a Jew) - He is before time and He put the words in the Bible that He wanted to be there. The Bible also allows for debating of scriptures (the men used to set upon the city walls a debate all the time), but our debates must be grounded in God and His word.
Back to the Sabbath - LOL! I hope I have given a good (though not perfect and not nearly enough references, so please do your own searching) history on why Christians stopped honoring the Sabbath and how Sunday became the standard day of worship for Christians. My last post will be if Christians should indeed honor the Sabbath, and what that actually means.