Let no one judge you in food drink holiday or sabbath

Why does Paul say, let no one judge you in food, feast days, or Sabbaths?

Lets start by looking at the text in question, which is Colossians 2:16-17. It’s important to keep in mind that Colossians was written to Greek converts who were living in a pagan culture.

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Messiah.” (Colossians 2:16-17)

This is an interesting visual aid that Paul uses here to describe these things. He says they are a shadow of the Messiah. A person’s shadow always goes with you. Sometimes it follows you, and sometimes it precedes you, but it is always right there with you. You can’t go anywhere without your shadow, and likewise your shadow can’t go anywhere without you.

Also, Paul says they are a shadow of things to come. This means the shadow precedes the Messiah. They are prophetic shadows that help to reveal the plans of Yahweh. The shadow of Messiah lets us know what Messiah is going to do.

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The War on Christmas

Have you ever wondered how the first American settlers celebrated Christmas? It might surprise you to find out that they didn’t.

The original war on Christmas was waged during the sixteenth and seventeenth century by Protestant Christians who opposed the pagan traditions of the Catholic church. The Pilgrims who came to America in 1620 were strict Puritans, with firm views against holidays such as Christmas and Easter, rejecting them because of their pagan origins. They were particularly contemptuous of Christmas, nicknaming it “Foolstide”.

“Shocking as it sounds, followers of Jesus Christ in both America and England helped pass laws making it illegal to observe Christmas, believing it was an insult to God to honor a day associated with ancient paganism” Shocked by the Bible (Thomas Nelson Inc, 2008)

Christmas decorations were considered to be unholy pagan rituals, traditional foods such as mince pies and pudding were banned, and businesses were required to remain open all day on Christmas. They made it illegal to mention the name of St. Nicolas, exchange gifts, or sing carols, and anyone caught ditching their work duties or feasting was fined five shillings.

“Men dishonor Christ more in the 12 days of Christmas, than in all the 12 months besides.” Hugh Latimer, 16th century clergyman

Around the time of the American Revolution anti-Christmas sentiment flared up again because Christmas had become associated with England for so many years. In fact, after the U.S. Constitution came into effect, the Senate assembled on Christmas Day in 1797, as did the House in 1802.

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The Prophetic Feasts

The Feasts of YHVH are prophetic appointments that show us things about the Messiah. These are set apart times that the Father wants us to practice, so that we will be ready for the Messiah. This is the Creator's Calendar, and He has told us in advance what He plans to do, if we will follow His calendar, we will be ready for what He plans to do.

And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The Feasts of YHVH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My Feasts. (Leviticus 23:1-2)

The Last Supper and our Passover

Last year I wrote an article titled "The Last
Supper Seder", which was based on the belief that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder meal. However, after a lengthy study, I have now come to a different understanding of what happened at the Last Supper.

In this post, I want to examine the instructions about Passover in the Torah, and the fulfillment of Passover by the Messiah, as well as examine the Last Supper that Yeshua ate with his disciples.

The Christmas Lie

Should Christians celebrate Christmas? To many believers, it sounds sacrilegious to even mention the idea of not celebrating Christmas. For so many people, Christmas is a symbol of their faith. This teaching goes into great detail about the origins of Christmas and also what the scriptures say about it.

Remember that Satan is the father of lies, and has been deceiving people from the beginning. He is a master of deceit, and so we need to be very careful to seek the truth, and not be deceived. The best way to deceive someone is to make it sound like truth by mixing bits of truth into the lie. You might be shocked when you find out the Truth about Christmas, but remember that the Truth will set you free.

Growing up, Christmas was my favorite time of year. I loved everything about it. The decorations, the food, the family, the gifts; it was all so beautiful and exciting for me as a child. My love for Christmas continued into adulthood. Every year I looked forward to setting up the tree, hanging lights on the house, and buying gifts for family and friends. We were so excited about Christmas that we would start decorating at the beginning of November, and leave the decorations up until the end of January (sometimes even into February). Christmas was my absolute favorite holiday, and one of the main reasons for this was because I thought it was a celebration of Jesus birth.

You see, I have been a Christian all of my life, and I have always loved God. I have always wanted to do what was right, and do what pleased God. I thought that celebrating Christmas was something that was pleasing to God, and that, more than anything else, is why I loved Christmas so much.

Then one day, Truth came knocking on my door. Someone told me that Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday, and that it was just adopted into Church tradition hundreds of years after Jesus died. This was strange news to me, because I grew up thinking that Christmas was celebrated from the beginning of the Church, and that it was a holiday that God gave us. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I wanted to find out the Truth about Christmas, so I started doing my own research, and was shocked at the things that I found out. I was so disgusted and shocked at the Pagan origins of some of our traditions that I began to weep and repent for my involvement in these things. I felt so deceived, and the thing that made this deceit so bad was that it came from people I trusted, family, friends, and especially the Church (who should have known better).

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The Last Supper Seder

I celebrated Passover with my family for the first time this year. I have been spending a lot of time studying the Last Supper Seder that Yeshua ate with his disciples. Popular Christian teaching calls this the "Last Supper", disconnecting it from its Hebrew context of  "Passover". Many preachers also say that Yeshua [Jesus] instituted "communion" at the "last supper", and that "communion" is what he was speaking about when he said, "do this in remembrance of me".  Yet, when we look at the scriptures that deal with this last meal that Yeshua ate with his disciples before his death, we can see that it wasn't just any supper that he ate with them, but it was the Passover seder that eagerly wanted to eat with them.

Celebrate FirstFruits

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (1Corinthians 15:20-25)

Easter vs Passover

It is interesting that I have heard Christians say that we have redeemed the Pagan holiday and made it Christian. But, why do we need to redeem Pagan holidays? God already gave us a full calendar of festivals and holy days that He created and said we should observe. Passover is one of those God-created festivals, why trade it for a Pagan imitation?

My last Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,
I decided to write you all a Christmas letter this year to let you know about some changes that are taking place in my life. I have been studying the Bible, and studying Church history, and I have made some startling discoveries that will affect my life forever. I have been studying the roots of many of our Christian Traditions, and I have been shocked to find out that many of the things we do (our traditions and practices) have absolutely no connection to Jesus or the Bible. In fact, many of our traditions are deeply rooted in Paganism. I will try to be brief in my explanation, but I apologize if it gets a little long, there is a lot of history to cover in this note.

The First Christmas Ham

Ham has become the centerpiece of most Christmas dinners. Have you ever wondered why? I was curious, so I did some investigation into the history of this Winter Holiday Tradition, to see where it came from. The answer just might surprise you, as it did me.

Fall Festivals

Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31, and common activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

Sound the Shofar

I decided to write a reflection about Rosh Hashanah today, since today is the end of the second day of the celebration. Also known as the "Feast of Trumpets" (Yom Teruah), Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year", and is commonly known as the Jewish New Year celebration. The celebration began Wednesday evening (Sept. 28, 2011) at sundown and lasts until sundown tonight. According to Jewish culture and the Biblical record, a day starts at sundown. This can be seen in the creation story in Genesis 1, "So there was evening, and there was morning..."