Category: Christianity

It is December 26, Christmas is finally over and hopefully my radio station will return to normal programming and not playing “carols” non stop! No more “Santa babe” please, sorry Eartha Kitt!

When I read the bible from cover to cover I do not find Santa mentioned once, nor jingle bells, nor that we should decorate trees, nor that we should celebrate Jesus’ birthday! It is not a time for seasons greetings. God has given us feasts to celebrate that teach us about his plan of salvation. They are not Jewish holidays, they are God’s feasts. “These are my appointed festivals…” (Lev 23:2) He is the creator of the universe, He knows what is good for us.

Before Jesus was born God sent the messenger Gabriel to Mary with an important message about the son she will have: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:32-33)

That is a description of the Messiah, what people had been hoping for. This is exactly the message that the prophets had been declaring all along – the Kingdom of God will be a worldwide kingdom, based in Jerusalem, with the anointed one as God’s agent administrating a perfect government.

Isaiah describes it as follows: “In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it — one from the house of David — one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness. (Isaiah 16:5)

What the prophets describe is a world with Utopian conditions, after the world has been conquered by God working through his chosen agent, the promised King.

“The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders —with great glory. (Isaiah 24:23)

“I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He (the Messiah) will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
(Zechariah 9:10)

Israel will be in a leadership role then:

But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame; Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau.” The LORD has spoken.
People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev.
Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD’s. (Obadiah 1:17 – 21)

Israel will get back the many territories taken from them. The Kingdom of God will have its headquarters based in the promised land of Israel.

Jeremiah confirms: “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety…” (Jeremiah 23:5,6)

The Good News

“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the good news (gospel) of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the good news (gospel).” (Mark 1:14-15)

Whatever the kingdom was, IT was good news. This was God had instructed his prophets to record for us. No ho ho Santa, no elves and reindeers with red noses, but a real King who will govern justly and with love, one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

He is not a helpless baby as the enemy would like the people to stress but God has given him great glory and authority.

“The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:2)

That is in the bible, imagine that, Joshua (the correct English translation of his Hebrew name Yehoshua, is the right hand man of the greatest being in the entire universe, no – even greater than that! He has created the universe and “holds in His hand” as the song goes. Close your eyes and imagine how immense the universe is. Now imagine how great God is – he has created all this, He has planned all this, yes, Father has done this.

He knows what he is doing, He has given Joshua an enormous position of authority as his right hand man! He has chosen Joshua to be His agent, His King in this worldwide Kingdom! That is the Father’s Good News that He wants us to know and to change our way of thinking.

But he will not hesitate to use his authority when necessary – he is not a baby away in a manger. He is Father’s Messiah!

He is actively building his team, as he was when he told the congregation in the town of Thyatira through the apostle John ” And to the one who overcomes and continues in my work until the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery— just as I have received authority from My Father. (Rev 2:27 – 28)

Joshua was excited about the Kingdom, he had started to preach the Good News about the kingdom. The people were excited too. They knew what the prophets had said, most of them knew the verses we have quoted off by heart, and many more! So the people were looking for him “and when they found Him, they said, “Everyone is looking for You!” But Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns so I can preach (the good news) there as well, for that is why I have come.” So He went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues … ” (Mark 1:38)

Preaching the Good News was what Father has commissioned him to do and he did it with all his energy.

Talking about the time of the end , Jesus said “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

Am I like Scrooge?

The enemy, Satan, has done every thing to hide the truth from people. One of his masterpieces of deception is the Christmas tradition! I am sure many will be angry with for daring to say this. So the Leader of the Opposition has to villainize people like me. So he inspires stories like a Christmas Carol and movies like A Christmas Story. So I have been called Scrooge, the Bitch who stole Christmas, the Grinch, the f. Jew, etc.)

If that is what I get called for exposing Satan’s deception hiding what is really important, wonderful and exciting, then thank you, I will gladly be one xxx, you fill in the term of your choice, who stole Christmas. I want to replace for you, what I am supposed to have stolen but is nor worth stealing, with the wonderful, good news, of the Kingdom of God!

Why I can’t even wish someone merry christmas?

My son wanted to know that. By just wishing somebody merry christmas does not make you dishonour your own beliefs. It is a time that people spend time together and are happy – that is good isn’t it?

My sister sent me a lovely email. Two of her daughters are visiting her. So she sent me photos of the flower arrangements that Cindy, she’s my niece from Switzerland. It is not so often that they can there at the same time. It makes me really happy as my sister is going through a difficult time an she needs the love her daughters.

I love my sister very much, and as I have written previously in my blog, she has been my inspiration and my role model. And she is a child of God. She has done so much for me, that I literally owe my life to her!

She describes the meal they, roast leg of lamb, veggies done in the oven and homemade ice cream and a bottle of French Champagne, I know you can only get champagne in France, I lived and worked in the champagne district. But when my sister wrote that Robert, that’s my other niece’s friend and he is a real wine connoisseur – a true blue oenophile, he is passionate about wine and loves tasting wine and can tell you the gastronomic details. I have never had the privilege to meet him in person, but I know that if my sister said Robert brought some French champagne, I would not be surprised if it was Laurent-Perrier or Perrier-Jouët!

The table was set so beautifully with candles, serviettes with red accents. My sister really loves beautiful things and she deserves it. I would want to assure her that Father loves beautiful things too, and when Joshua comes back we have been invited to a meal with him which will be set even more exquisite, I don’t have anything nearly smart enough for that occassion!

Why do I tell you all this – because I know her heart, she is royalty. In the very next line of her email she wrote “Nevertheless I don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas!”

What prompted that? A sense of I don’t really deserve to have such pleasures. I can’t really say what prompted her to say that, I am probably 10000 miles away. But we had a similar childhoods and still have issues to work through. She knows the issues I was dealing with and knew I was not worth the air I breathed.

But this is why I want to shout – stop wishing me merry christmas, what Father has planned for us is so incredibly greater, so much more inspiring! When I was deep in the black hole, Father pulled me back up, and said He will have none of that. Don’t I know that he knows all about me. He was with me when I was being formed in my mother’s womb (I loved mother and I know she loved and had sacrificed so much for my sister and I – in the end it was my sister who care for her. He and Joshua had chosen me to be part of the team Joshua is building and the gates of hell will not be able to stop his team (Mat 16:18). Through the preaching of Joshua I learned what the true good news is, the Kingdom that Father has been planning since the beginning and that Joshua is coming soon to inaugurate! It will be great.

Am I being the grunge who stole christmas? Perhaps. Of course I am glad that families get together like my sister did. But Joshua was not born at that time. We were never taught to celebrate his birthday. Instead Father gave us his feasts that foreshadows his plan for us. All the christmas traditions, including the many beautiful carols that are played endlessly on the radio and the shopping malls. I used to believe that if one ignored the santas and sleigh bells and colourful wrapping paper, “Christ is born today!”

Joshua certainly deserves our honour. Father has crowned him with honour and glory – he placed him at his right hand, do we grasp what an esteemed position that is? But the christmas traditions prefer to depict him as a baby. That is the subtle deception. In the place of the vision of the soon returning King coming in power and glory to rule the earth with justice and love, Christmas gives people the blatantly false traditions and feel good music, and show him as a cute baby, anything just don’t show him as the one sitting at God’s right hand and coming soon!

These are some of the decorations in our facility to honour the ‘festive season – I cringe!’ So effective is the conspiracy to hide the truth that even people of other faiths who thought Christianity was ridiculous are now buying christmas gifts.

& 2U2

So it has been a “and to you too” day for me. I have been wished “merry christmas dozens of times today. And I reply simply “and to you too”. What I really want to say is you don’t know what you are missing, it is so much grander and more exciting!