Angels Celebrated Jesus' Birth (CW111)

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The Bread - Word made flesh

Luke 22:19  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, " This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

   When a Christian partakes of the bread (His body or the Word) in the Holy Communion, he must always remember that the body of Jesus was the Word made flesh.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

Who is the Word?

1 John 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one  (KJV).

   God reveals Himself to man as the Triune Godhead or Trinity - the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. The Word gave up His heavenly glory as the Lord God Almighty. He came down to earth and was made flesh to become the Son of God.

Mat 28:19  "Go therefore  and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"

Word made flesh in Humility

Luke 2:7   And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

   Not only was the Word (in great humility) made flesh to become a bondservant, but was born in great humility in an animal stable as a sacrificial Lamb wrapped in swaddling cloths. His bed was a wooden manger meant for holding the feed of animals.

Phi 2:5-7  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

What to Remember?

    During the Holy Communion when we partake in the bread (His body), our Lord Jesus reminded us to remember that He was the Almighty God, who created the heavens and the earth. The wickedness of man on earth has always been great especially in the last days.

   Out of His great love for man, He gave up His heavenly Kingdom and Glory to save man from damnation. He was fashioned into a bondservant in the form of a Man.

   He was born in great humility in an animal stable and wrapped in swaddling clothes. His bed was only a wooden manger.

  He became the sacrificial Lamb for the propitiation of man's sins.

Good Shepherds Received Good Tidings

Luke 2:8, 10-11  Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night... Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

   Bethlehem enjoys the Mediterranean climate of the hot and dry summers and the mild and wet winters. Snow is a rarity. Winter enjoys an average temperature of 5°C - 12°C (just like springtime in Europe).  

   In winter, caring and good shepherds will take their flocks out in the night to feed on the nutritious, dewy and fresh grass. This was the time when suddenly an angel announced the good tidings of the birth of our Saviour Jesus.

   Similarly, caring and faithful Christians will be blessed with the knowledge of God, the understanding of Scriptures and End-time signa, revelation and truth of His words and the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Good Shepherds Celebrated 1st Christmas with Angels

Luke 2:13-14  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!".

   The good shepherds were blessed for celebrating the first Christmas with the multitudes of angels.

   Brethren, whenever we joyfully celebrate Christmas, I believe angelic hosts in heaven may join us celebrating His birth.

How wonderful and joyful if only we can hear those angelic voices singing and praising God alongside ours.

Jews Rejected their Messiah (CW110)

  World War 3 is at Hand

While we wait for Iran's  annihilation and its regime change to start World War 3, let's check our own Christian faith, doctrine and knowledge of Him and His words.

Jesus, the Messiah

John 11:47-48, 53  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.

If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation... Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death._

   The Jews were expecting their Messiah to establish the Israeli Kingdom again.

   However, the faithless Jewish leadership could not trust their Messiah to defeat the almost invincible Roman army, so they planned to kill Him to prevent the Romans incriminating them of rebellion.

    At the death of Jesus on the cross, God left the temple thereby ending the Old Covenant and replacing it with the New Covenant of Jesus' blood.

Heb 8:13  In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Winter in Bethlehem

Luke 2:10-11  Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

   Bethlehem enjoys the Mediterranean climate of the hot and dry summers and the mild and wet winters. Snow is a rarity. Winter enjoys an average temperature of 5°C - 12°C (just like springtime in Europe).  

   In winter, good and caring shepherds will take their flocks out in the night to feed on the dewy fresh grass, this was the time when suddenly the angels announced the birth of the Saviour Jesus.

    Since the Jewish Priesthood rejected the birth of their Messiah and Christianity was illegal, there was no public celebration of Christmas for almost 300 years until the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor.

Celebration of Jesus' Birth

Luke 2:13-14  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

   The good and caring shepherds were blessed to be able to celebrate the first Christmas with the multitudes of angels hosts.

JOY to the World the Lord has Come

Word Made Flesh

Luke 22:19  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, " This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

    When Christians partake of the bread (His body or Word) during the Holy Communion,  our Lord Jesus reminded us to remember that He was the Word made flesh at His birth (Christmas).

    Thank God that not only Christians but the whole world accepts Christmas as the Christian festival in remembrance of the birth of Jesus.

   But unfortunately, unlearned and misled Christians think that winters in Bethlehem are very cold and blanketed with snow (shown on Christmas cards).

   Just like the faithless and fearful Jewish leadership who denied their Messiah (Jesus) had come as the Word made flesh, Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas also deny Jesus was the Word made flesh. This may lead them to lose their salvation.

  Thank God that He has provided the whole month of December (Christmas-tide) as opportunities for blessed Christians to celebrate and evangelise non Christians.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Why was Christmas held on December 25?

    The Councils of bishops, who were imprisoned and tortured for their faith in Jesus, formulated the Nicene (Apostles) Creed in 325AD and later canonised the 27 New Testament books of the Holy bible.

     At their advice, Emperor Constantine adopted December 25 as the day of birth of Jesus for Christians to celebrate Christmas in unity and in harmony.

Original Bible Language - Greek (CW109)

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The Hebrew Language

  Daniel was a youth when he was taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. He had to learn Aramaic, the language of his new masters. After the fall of the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC to the Persians, Aramaic continued to be commonly used in the Persian Empire.

  Daniel initially wrote the book of Daniel in Hebrew. In his later years, he used Aramaic to continue his book possibly because most of the younger generation of Jews were not able to comprehend Hebrew.

  Within half a century or so, many Jews had replaced their mother tongue with Aramaic.

Note many parts of the writings of Ezra were also in Aramaic.

   Except for the religious Jews, who memorised the Torah written in Hebrew when young, the rest of the Jews were not able to understand Hebrew.

Translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek

    After the Greek in 330 BC conquered the Persian Empire, the Jews once again had to learn and speak Greek, the language of their new masters.

  In the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates, "the laws of the Jews" at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE) were translated into the Greek Septuagint (meaning seventy) by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

   For the sake of the Jews who could not understand Hebrew, the complete 20 canonical books of the Hebrew Bible were finally translated into 39 books of the Greek Old Testament called 'The Septuagint'.

   The Hebrew Bible was mainly reserved for Jewish religious rites.

De facto Language in 1st century A.D

   The New Testament was written in Koine Greek - the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean then.

   This suggests that our Lord Jesus and Jews all spoke Koine Greek which was the de facto language. Our Lord Jesus must have memorised the Torah from childhood for at the age of twelve He was able to discuss scriptures intelligently with the religious teachers.

Luke 2:46-47  Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Hebrew Spoken on the Cross

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

   When our Lord Jesus cried out in Hebrew at His death, the Jews, who no longer speak Hebrew, mistook Him calling the prophet Elijah to help Him.

Mat 27:47, 49  Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!"... The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."

Canonical Books of the NT

   The Council of Rome in 382 A.D canonised the present 27 New Testament books (written in Greek) from amongst 50 false Gospels, hundreds of heretic and demonic records, and also epistles with erred and missing texts. All these rejects were supposed to be burnt, destroyed and banned (e.g Dead Sea Scrolls).

Protestant Bible

   Martin Luther ensured that the Protestant Bible comprises only canonical books and their initial translations. This original basic Bible consists of the 39 books of Greek Old Testament called The Septuagint (translated from the Hebrew Bible) and the 27 canonical books of the Greek New Testament.

   Translations taken directly from this original basic Bible are the most accurate (e.g King James Bible).

Translation into Latin Vulgare

   Jerome translated the basic Bible into the Latin Vulgate between A.D 383 and 404.

Deuterocanonical Books

  The Deuterocanonical books, written in Koine Greek in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, are not canonical books. They are mainly of historic nature and do not affect the teachings of the Law.

   Both the Roman Catholic Bible and the Greek Orthodox Bible have added several of these Deuterocanonical books to the original basic Bible (Protestant Bible).

Original Bible Language - Hebrew (CW108)

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The Old Testaments

The first five books of the Bible (Old Testament) or Torah were written in Hebrew. Torah is commonly referred to as the Law (or the Pentateuch, in Christianity). These 5 books are traditionally ascribed to Moses (1391–1271 BC), the recipient of the original revelation from God on Mount Sinai.

  Almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in the prophecies of Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in a language called Aramaic. This language became very popular in the ancient world and actually displaced many other languages.

Why use Aramaic ?

   After the fall of Jerusalem and Judah in 586 BC, the majority of the remnant Jews were taken as slaves to Babylon where they had to learn and speak Aramaic the language of their masters.

   It did not take long before the majority of the Jews lost their use of the Hebrew language. Daniel had to write the latter part of his book in Aramaic so that the Jews could understand. Similarly, the majority of Ezra's writings were in Aramaic.

Falsehood of Scribes

Jer 8:8   "How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the Lord is with us'? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood."

    The Devil used false scribes to corrupt the Torah and Prophets also sent the false prophets to confuse them with false writings resulting in the priests becoming lawless.

Jer 5:30-31  "An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?"

   

Prophets sent by God

Jer 7:25  Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

    God sent His true prophets to admonish, judge and rectify these corruptions. So the many rejects (false and erred scriptures) were to be burned, destroyed or banned.  

   These are some of the rejected false and demonic Old Testament books.

  Book of Enoch

  The Secrets of Enoch

  The Psalms of Solomon

  The Odes of Solomon

  The Letter of Aristeas

  The Story of Ahikar

Canon Books of the Old Testament

   It seems that as far back as Erza and Nehemiah, the 39 books of the OT were being canonised until the 3rd Century BC.

   The 24 books of the Hebrew Bible are the same as the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament, only divided and ordered differently: the books of the Minor Prophets are in Christian Bibles twelve different books, and in Hebrew Bibles, one book called "The Twelve". Likewise, Christian Bibles divide the Books of Kingdoms into four books, either 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings or 1–4 Kings: Jewish Bibles divide these into two books. The Jews likewise keep 1–2 Chronicles/Paralipomenon as one book. Ezra and Nehemiah are likewise combined in the Jewish Bible, instead of divided into two books, as per the Catholic and Protestant tradition.

Translation into Greek

  By the third century BC, the Jewish community had largely lost the ability to speak Hebrew, so they translated the books of the Hebrew Bible into their then-native (Koine) Greek.

   Gradually this Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, was widely accepted and was even used in many synagogues.

Dead Sea Scrolls are Erred Texts

    The famous Dead Sea Scrolls including the Hebrew Old Testament discovered in 1947 actually date back to the first century BC but they are not the originals.  

  These scrolls were rejects because they have erred and flawed texts. They should have been burnt or destroyed. All bible translations taken from these rejected scrolls will have missing or erred texts.

  The originals, which were translated into the Greek Septuagint in the third century BC, have all been lost or destroyed. For accuracy, all bible translations of the Old Testaments should be taken directly from the Septuagint.

Christianisation of the Roman Empire (CW107)

  World War 3 is at Hand

Vision of Constantine

    The Christian historian Eusebius Pamphilus, who later became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima, described what happened to Constantine: "He saw with his own eyes in the heavens the Cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message 'In Hoc Signo Vincesa' in Latin, meaning 'In This Sign Conquer'. Then in a dream Christ visits Constantine and gives him a battle strategy that helped him win."

   Constantine saw the vision of the Cross arising from the light of the sun and he was to conquer the whole Roman Empire to Christianity with the Gospel of Christ.

    For God to hand the enemies over to Constantine was easy, but to win the Roman Empire to Christ, he must trust Jesus, the Sun of righteousness and the Light of the World.

   To be the light of the world, Christ must have taught him to walk in humility and love in order to win over the trust of the equally powerful Pagan Emperor Licinius of the Eastern Roman Empire and the hearts of the powerful Pagan Roman Senate.

Mat 5:16  "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Then in a dream Christ visits Constantine and gives him a battle strategy that helped him win.

  In his dream, Jesus must have taught him to set up the council of bishops similar to the council of Apostles and elders of Jerusalem in order to re-establish the Christian's doctrine to reunite the divided churches.

Christianity Legalized

  In 312 A.D, Constantine attributed the victory over his rival Maxentius to the God of the Christians in front of the powerful Pagan Roman Senate.

  On February, 313 AD Constantine in humility with the Pagan Eastern Emperor Licinius obtained the Senate's approval to sign the edict of Milan proclaiming religious tolerance in the Roman Empire thereby removing the persecution of Christians and the return of all confiscated properties.

Heresies facing Constantine

   By the 4th Century A.D, there was little agreement about Christianity's beliefs and teachings, the nature of Jesus and God, what writings were sacred, or even how to worship. There was a wide variety of views, many of which were later declared heresies.

Council of Nicaea

   Immediately after legalising Christianity, he invited 1,800 persecuted bishops from around the empire to provide the basis for a unified Church.  

   The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD with 384 bishops and presided by Bishop Hosius of Cordova made several decisions, including:

1. The Nicene Creed

The council created the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that affirmed the divinity of Christ. The creed used the Greek term homoousios, which means "of one substance", to declare that Christ was of the same substance as the Father.

2. The date of Easter

The council established a unified date for Easter, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. This separated Easter from the Jewish calendar and created a distinctly Christian celebration.

3. Banishment of Arius

The council banished Bishop Arius and his followers, who denied the divinity of Christ and declared their teachings heresy.

Following the Council's advice, Constantine set aside December 25 for Christians to celebrate in unity the birth of Jesus (Christmas), and declared Sunday (the Lord's Day in Rev 1:8) for Christian to worship the Almighty God.

   He was a Saint more than a Conqueror.

 

After his death in 337 A.D, his son Theodosius I in 380 A.D declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

New Testament Books

    The Council of Rome in 382 A.D canonised the present 27 New Testament books (written in Greek) from amongst 50 false Gospels and hundreds of heretic and demonic records, which were all banned.  

  Unfortunately unlearned, heretics and Satan's agents had used and are still using these demonic false books to discredit and blaspheme our Lord Jesus, His Apostles and also His faithful servant Constantine.

The Calling of Paul (CW106)

 World War 3 is at Hand

While we wait for Iran's  annihilation and its regime change to start World War 3, let's check our own Christian faith, doctrine and knowledge of Him and His words.

Salvation of Gentiles

    Before the Gentiles were brought into His salvation, Jesus ensured that they were taught the truth from His words without any wrong doctrine nor heresy.

Acts 9:15  But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel."

   God chose Saul (Paul) a Pharisee of Pharisees, who was godly and zealous to please God by imprisoning Christians who were considered as God's enemies.

   For three years in Arabia, our Lord Jesus personally through revelations taught Paul. After that Paul met up with Peter, who confirmed that his doctrines were the same as those taught to them by our resurrected Lord before He went back to heaven.

Gal 1:11-12  But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Old Covenant Made Obsolete

Heb 8:13  In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

  At the death of Jesus, the veil of the temple was torn signifying the end of the Old Covenant for God had left the temple.,

Circumcision of new Gentile converts

Acts 15:1  And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

   Paul knew that the New Covenant of the blood of Jesus had made the Old Covenant obsolete, so he refused to have the new Gentile converts circumcised.

   The Council of Jerusalem confirmed Paul's doctrine and forbade new converts from keeping the obsolete Old Covenant which was made with the Israelites only.

Acts 15:28-29  For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.  If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

Gospel of Grace

Luke 24:46-47  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise  from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

   For anyone to become a Christian, he must believe and understand the Gospel of grace or the message of the cross.

Water Baptism

Mat 28:18-20  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore  and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

    Before Any Christian is baptised, he must believe and understand the Triune Godhead or Trinity:

1. The Father was the Creator of heavens and earth

2. The Son was the Word made flesh. He died on the cross for the propitiation of our sin. On the third day He rose from the dead.

3. The Holy Spirit lives in every born again Christian. He empowers him with His anointing, gifts, truth and guidance.

   So before the Gentiles were harvested into His kingdom, there was a type of Christian Creed which is similar to today's Apostles Creed.

   Every Christian is also taught to observe all the commands of Jesus.

So every born again Christian equipped with the Apostles' Creed, Jesus words and the indwelling of Holy Spirit can  mature in Christ and they will be empowered with truth and wisdom to overcome distorted truth, erred scriptures, false gospels, heresies, lies and deceptions of Satan.

Heresies in the Early Church (CW105)

  World War 3 is at Hand

While we wait for Iran's  annihilation and its regime change to start World War 3, let's check our own Christian faith, doctrine and knowledge of Him and His words.

Glorious Apostolic Age

    Jesus' disciples were persecuted initially by the Jewish leadership and then by the Romans for 300 years until Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor.

    During the Apostolic age, the church flourished with sound doctrine taught by Jesus' disciples. They protected His truth by rejecting heresies of those new rich Pharisees converts.

   The Holy Spirit inspired some of His disciples to pen the 4 Gospels and the 23 Epistles, recording the truth of Jesus' birth, divinity, commandments, words and teachings for our understanding, guidance and spiritual growth.

Earliest Christian Heresy

Acts 15:5  But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."

    Some covetous Pharisees (Luke 16:14-15) wanted the new Gentile converts to keep the Mosaic Law so that they too could follow the Law again.

   As a Jew, he only needs to pay 10% of his income as tithes and the rest of the money is his to keep. As a Christian, he owns nothing, for all, 100% belongs to God, as he is only God's steward.

   When they witnessed the disciples selling all they had and laid the money at the Apostles' feet they were worried.

   Since then, various depraved rich and covetous Christians produced erred texts and false Gospels and epistles to deny the divinity of Jesus thereby demoting Jesus to be a creature rather than the Creator, Almighty God Himself.

   These rebellious Christians only want Jesus' grace of salvation and the Holy Spirit's anointing, gifts and empowering but not Jesus' words. They kept the Mosaic Law for financial blessings.

Luke 24:44-45  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

    We thank God that after His resurrection, for forty days our Lord Jesus taught His disciples how the New Covenant of His blood replaced the Old Covenant.

   The Council of Elders in Jerusalem, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, insisted  that Christians must not keep the Law.

    Paul's epistles are doctrines taught by the Lord Himself, they all complement His words. In line with the commands by the Council of Elders, some of Paul's writings specifically condemn the keeping of the Old Covenant such as Sabbath, Feasts, Jewish traditions, etc.

Heresies in Churches

Acts 20:29-30  For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.    

   After the Apostolic Age, Satanic false Apostles (untransformed rich and powerful Pharisees and Scribes) in the leadership of churches defiled His church.

   By the 2nd and 3rd Century A.D, the church faced many heresies including; Docetism, Adoptionism, Arianism and Gnosticism.

   By the 4th Century A.D, there were about 50 false Gospels (Gospels of Thomas, Marcion, Mary Magdalene, Barnabas, etc.)  and hundreds of false Epistles.

   All these heresies denied the divinity of Jesus and the Triune Godhead, resulting in Jesus' words being treated as inferior to the Law of Moses.

Mat 5:11-12  "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

    As Jesus' apostles and disciples were recording the teachings of Jesus, these false Apostles and historians produced false, damaging and heretic records, books and epistles to discredit (say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake) our Lord Jesus, His faithful Apostles and later on, even Emperor Constantine.