IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
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Preparing for the End of Time | |
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Fri Dec 3 09:25:44 EST 2004
Dear Brethren, Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly sabbath. It is with a very sad heart that I take note of the approaching Christmas season. Stores have been putting up displays for weeks. The day after Thanksgiving, lights began appearing on the homes in our neighbourhood. The rampant commercialism, the shallow seasons greetings, and alchoholic cheer continuing right on through New Year will begin to surround us. The "exchanging" of gifts is such a shallow replacement for true gift giving. There is such a materialistic focus with its "shop til you drop" attitude. I find it all very sickening and always have. This is all before taking note of the fact that it is a Roman Catholic holiday with a psuedo-religious veneer placed over a pagan holiday. Churches make a half-hearted attempt to provide religious teaching of what this is all supposed to be about. The results are more like pagentry and having a good time. Now let us note the idolatry of pagan symbols. There is the decorated tree. This travesty invades even some of our churches. I have set a resolve for myself to let anyone know who will stand still long enough to listen that I will not attend church as long as a tree is displayed. There has already been an announcement of a "Christmas" program in our church during the worship service. I am not going to attend that either. What about the lighted candles? Replaced in modern times by electric lights. You realize don't you that December 25'th was originally intended to be the date of the winter solstice. This is the equivalent of the New Moon. It is the rebirth of the Sun. Modern astronomy tells us that the actual winter solstice is closer to December 22. Where in the scriptures are we ever to celebrate a birthday? The Jewish people have no birthday holidays for any of the great men of their faith. I suspect that the celebration of birthdays is of a pagan origin also. I have not studied this yet. The parties, gift giving, and all the other trappings look suspiciously familiar to other known pagan customs. What is the religious basis? Where are the spiritual lessons? This is a time of great testing and temptation. Will we be like Elijah and stand for truth? Will we be like Daniel, Joseph, and the three worthies? Will the blazing furnace of social conformity cause us to worship the Lord in the presence of pagan idolatry? How can we worship the Lord in honesty and truth while we allow our minds to be clouded with human traditions and pagan concepts? This abomination is so prevalent in our church that to speak against it leads to instant shunning. Last year I was asked to participate in the "Christmas" program. I did! I did a reading. I read a statement I had written that noted the pagan origins of Christmas and redirected attention to God's holidays, the annual sabbaths. Talk about reverence in church... there was dead silence. Diatribe over... Soap box pushed back under the desk... At this point it is necessary to remind ourselves that harsh criticism and condemnation is not an appropriate response to this situation. I know that my blood boils over this issue and it may for some of you. As hard as it may be we must pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to discern proper action and response to these challenges. Raising a ruckus is not appropriate. Keeping silent is not appropriate. I can identify these two extremes. Only the loving Holy Spirit of God can help us to discern the middle ground. Shabbat Shalom
Frank T. Clark
Next: 2004-12-06 Modern communication |
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Revised 2004-12-19 |