Hi all,
As you know, I shared in September and earlier in the year in this space some of the things the Lord told me in December 2019 about the election, how it would be contested and go to the Supreme Court, and all that has come to pass. There was more He said at that time, and early next month in this space I will share what He said.
But have you noticed there is a peace in your spirit? It’s important to let the peace dominate our thoughts, and we do that by bringing every thought captive to the peace in our spirit. Let our hearts turn towards the giving of thanks, the joy of His presence in us, and keeping our thoughts and emotions captive to the obedience of Christ. As Paul said, if there is any good thing, think on those things and the God of peace will be with you. That isn’t to deny what is happening in the world, but it means none of these things move us, for we are about the Father’s business.
What ‘Peace on earth’ really means
One of the things the world always gets wrong at this time of year is the phrase ‘Peace on earth, good will towards men.’ Without exception the world takes that to mean ‘everyone be at peace with one another’, but that is not what the angel told the shepherds. They urge us to ‘think good thoughts’ that there may be peace on earth – but that is not what the angel said.
Luke 2: 9 tells us a single angel appeared to the shepherds about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. Verse 13-14 says: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host (Greek: Army) saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will towards men.’”
Can you imagine the initial fear the shepherds must have felt at the sight of a single angel, but then to suddenly have the army of heaven appear to them must have been nearly overwhelming. Fortunately the angel army said apparently in unison, “Glory to God in the highest….peace, good will towards men.”
The army of heaven could have appeared to begin a campaign to wipe out the human race. But they were emissaries announcing a peace treaty: They were telling the shepherds that God the Father had good will towards man, was making peace with mankind, demonstrated in the form of His Son taking upon Him human flesh and born among them.
That revelation of God the Father’s good will towards man is echoed in Paul’s statement of II Corinthians 5: 16-20 which says in part: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging their sins to them, and has given to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are Ambassadors as though God through us is urging you Himself, Be reconciled to God.”
That is the great message we celebrate when we recognize the birth of Jesus Christ into this world – He is the Father’s gift proving He has good will towards man – therefore be reconciled to the Father. If you read Ephesians 1: 4-5 tells us the Father chose us in Himself to be adopted through the agency of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection. Paul continues in v19-20 saying the same power the Father used to raise Jesus from the dead is what He uses in our lives – all that power is towards us, for us, and the means by which He works in us.
Pagan issues and common sense
There are some who note and rightly so, that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25. Most are at least vaguely aware the history of the pagan Roman celebration of Saturnalia. When Christianity became legal and the official religion of the Roman Empire, they sought to ‘Christianize’ the pagan holidays. Many ancient people and the Romans themselves, celebrated the December 21 ‘return of the sun’ – the length of daylight became longer after the winter solstice on December 21. So that multi-day celebration became the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
And some have issues with pagan elements that have over the centuries become Christmas traditions: The Christmas tree being the most noticeable. For some, it is offensive to use a formerly pagan symbol to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and so choose not to. Some don’t celebrate His birth at all.
Paul dealt with pagan issues in Rome and Corinth. There were Christians in each city who did not agree with having any celebration connected to pagan practices. Many Christians used to be pagans and now in Christ, they wanted to stay as far away as possible from any link to their time before they knew the Lord.
For instance, in Corinth there was a central temple around which were restaurants and shops that sold meat from the temple in their stores and restaurants. Some Christians ate at those restaurants not bothered their steak had a few minutes earlier, been offered as a sacrifice to an idol. Other Christians were offended because that meat had been offered to an idol.
In Rome he addressed broader issues – what day if any to celebrate in the Lord, to eat meat and/or wine that had been offered to idols, and whether to eat no meat at all and become a vegetarian – so offended were they at the idea that meat had been once sacrificed and used in idol worship.
In I Corinthians 8: 4-10 and in chapter 10, Paul states to us an idol is nothing, for there is but one God, whose we are. But he says some Christians are bothered by the pagan roots of the food and the pagan holidays, who he calls ‘weak in the faith’. He tells those who aren’t bothered by pagan roots to be mindful of the weak conscience of others, so that if they are eating with them in the restaurant and you know they will be bothered if you order steak, don’t order the steak for dinner.
But he says, if you are minding your own business and they see you eating that steak, it is upon them to walk in love, and you have no responsibility in that case. He tells the Romans in 14: 1-10 that God accepts both the person that eats and the person that doesn’t eat, the one who chooses one day to celebrate and the one who shuns that day, so we should accept one another: “Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind.” He tells them not to despise one another nor judge one another, but to walk in love.
Don’t let your hypocrisy show
In ancient Greece they worshipped Luna, the goddess of the moon. To celebrate birthdays they would make a round cake, round like the moon, then put candles on it which were symbols of the light of the moon. Then the birthday person would pray to Luna and blow out the candles, believing the smoke carried their prayer request to her. That’s why we have round birthday cakes with candles on them and ‘make a wish’ as we blow out the candles.
Does anyone reading this worship or pray to Luna when they blow out their candles? Or do you not care about pagan roots and are just celebrating yours or the birth of your loved one? Exactly. Have you ever celebrated someone’s birth not on their exact birthday? Exactly.
So what if the world celebrates Jesus’ birth on a day other than the real date? So what if ancient people in what became Germany more than 2000 years before I was born brought an evergreen tree into their house as a symbol of the spring that was to come? Can we not think of heaven which is to come? Or maybe just because it is tradition have a Christmas tree?
I don’t care if someone brings an owl or frog figurine into their home which are used by people in the occult as portals to let demons through – but they don’t buy those figurines for that reason do they? Some may collect figurines of pigs or horses, both unclean animals and eaten by peoples around the world. But they aren’t making a statement of standing up for unclean animals are they, in violation of God’s dietary restrictions to the Jews?
Some people feel they must protect the Lord’s reputation or ‘stand up’ for their faith as a protest against all the pagan and commercial culture surrounding Christmas – I get that. And some will justify their stance saying ancient Jews only celebrated godly festivals and we should too. But I’m not an ancient Jew any more than I am an ancient pagan. I don’t care what ancient pagans used to do – and modern ones still do. I’m not bothered that some pagan somewhere may still worship Luna by blowing out candles on their cake and praying to her or ‘Mother Earth’ or ‘the universe’ – what they do has zero bearing on my life in Christ.
You may know someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas because they are bothered by the pagan roots – though the only root I see is the godly one where Luke and Matthew tell the story of God our Father giving His Son to mankind as a peace offering. But if you know someone, don’t point out their hypocrisy when they celebrate someone’s birthday young or old, on their exact day or not.
Walk in love – Paul said not to criticize those who eat or drink or choose a particular day to celebrate, and not to criticize those who don’t. What we do we do unto the Lord and He accepts us both. That should end all argument.
Around the network
We have started announcing our Zoom meetings only in the space above the text of my Weekly Thoughts and e-newsletter. We found if I announced Zoom online meetings on YouTube or Facebook during my weekly teachings, that we got ‘bombed’ by the ungodly who harassed us. So for that reason you’ll only see written notices in this space or in my Weekly Thoughts.
Our ‘traffic’ has increased some 250% this year and we appreciate your patience, especially with answering emails.
Africa – our house churches in Uganda support roughly 150 orphans and children with only 1 parent, usually AIDS orphans. We, that is CWOWI sends monthly support and you can find pictures from our main leader there, Edward, on our web site. If you want to donate anything for the orphans you can make a donation to CWOWI and mark it for the orphans or Uganda or similar notation, and we will send it on to them.
We are trying to connect African CWOWI leaders with each other by having then take trips to visit one another. Next month we’d like to send our Nigerian leader to Ivory Coast – we tried this month, sending what we could, but found out normal bus schedules are not working due to Covid, and flying is the way he must travel, which is more expensive.
Also Daniel in Kenya we hope to send to Uganda in February, once political situations calm down in both countries. Daniel already travels overland to Rwanda, Burundi and around Kenya supporting those in the CWOWI network. Traveling nation to nation within Africa is very often more difficult than leaving Africa for the EU or even USA, and overland travel is often difficult in terms of safety, road quality, and time/effort involved.
Keep it simple – Remember the core elements of church in the home outlined in Acts 2:42: “They were in the (1) teaching of the apostles, (2) and fellowship, (3) eating, and (4) prayer.”
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, kindness, self control – walk in the fruit of the Spirit.
Barb and I, Brian and Amy, wish you a very merry Christmas. Without you in our lives we could not do what we are doing. More people than ever are interested in home based, family based, and relationship-based faith. Thank you for your giving, thank you for your prayers, thank you for being part of our lives and allow us to be part of yours.
Blessings,
John & Barb, Brian & Amy
