December 14, 2012

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  Happy Hanukkah
  DAY SIX -  Hanukkah & the Tree – a 2010 post

  Some of my friends have been posting about how they are having trouble with Hanukkah and Christ-Mass, and how they aren’t sure how to ‘make it work’.   I thought I should probably address this, since it comes up time and again, and I keep writing about it in people’s comment sections, anyhow.  Wouldn’t it be nice to get a fresh perspective on it?  And frankly, I want to primarily focus on the Tree.

  Most of the Messianic believers I know of don’t quite know what to do with the tree.  It’s THE biggest bone of contention.  Because it’s easy to throw out Santa, Rudolph and the gang – they’re not real, anyhow.  It’s easy to throw out the yule log, since most people don’t have one, anyhow.  And debunking CHRIST as the reason of the season is super simple – scripture is clear that Messiah fulfilled the feasts, and those (along with records in the prophets/gospels) are clear that Messiah was conceived during Hanukkah, and was born the first of Sukkot, and was circumsized on the 8th day of Sukkot.  Not to mention a Mass is the calling down of Jee-zus from heaven to bodily enter the bread/wine and be re-sacrificed again… a blatant slap in scripture’s face.  We won’t go further with that today, because we’ve covered all that before, and it’s all easily dismissable.

  The main problem seems to be the tree.  Everyone has a tree.  Everyone loves the tree – the way they can collect special things from their children and friends/family to hang on it.  The way it makes the ‘season bright’.  Not to mention sentimental value – everyone has memories of their parent’s/grandparent’s trees.  It’s hard to let go.  But warring with these things is the fear of doing something ‘wrong’ and pissing off Yehovah.  We want to be obedient, and we want to ‘separate’ from the ‘evil’ that corrupts Truth.  I totally get that.

  “Do not learn the ways of the goyim (gentile nations-pagan)
  …For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut
  a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
  …They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails
  so that it will not totter.” Jeremiah 10: 2-5

  This would be the verse that has everyone freaking out about having a tree in your house.  Because the Bible says that EVIL people cut trees down and ‘deck it’ with silver and gold… so that means we shouldn’t do it.  It’s cut and dried… okay, figuratively.  (wink!)  The problem here is… well, legalism.  Oh, that fun word!

  Let’s back up a moment, and look at something a little different: a golden calf.  Remember when Moses was up a mountain getting the tablets of the law from Yehovah, and Aaron got a crazy idea to melt the gold into the shape of a cow and let the people worship it?  Well, that’s not the only time this happened.  After Solomon died, the Lord split Israel in two – 10 tribes going with Jereboam and 2 going with Solomon’s son Reheboam.  Well, because the temple was in Reheboam’s land, and Jereboam was afraid letting his peeps go up to it might result in them not coming back (rather, siding with Reheboam), he forged two MORE golden calves… and really pissed Yehovah off.  Now… does this mean that cows are evil, and we should not drink milk/eat beef/own cows?  Of course not.  Cows – in spite of the idolatry – were actually the highest sacrifice the Lord set up for us (until Messiah).  Likewise, does it mean we shouldn’t forge anything out of gold?  Of course not.  The problem was in trying to draw power/wisdom from another source via worship/elevation.

  And next let’s look at astronomy.  Astronomy, you ask?  Yes.  See, the Lord created the stars, set them in their places, and arranged them so as to be signs in the heavens that declared His glory. If you read the last couple chapters of Genesis, you find Abraham actually describing the 12 tribes in such a way as to define the constellations in the sky.  But then Ha’Satan came along and corrupted the star arrangements to be ‘Zodiac’.  This practice of divining from the stars to tell the future or predict things is wrong and evil, because it’s a way of circumventing HaShem and seeking power/wisdom from another source. Does this make the stars ‘evil’, or their arrangements evil?  Heavens, no!  In fact, the Lord actually uses those star sequences and makes signs for us in the heavens, even today!  But christians go CrAzY if you’re into astronomy, because they cannot separate astronomy (the study of the stars) from astrology (the spiritual divination from the stars).  So they throw aside something wonderful out of fear and turn it into a legalistic thing.

  Likewise with the tree.  HaShem (The Lord) created the trees of the earth, in their many varieties, to show forth His glory (such as the dogwood’s salvation message, and the evergreen’s message of eternal/undying love of the Father). Satan came along and distorted the meaning of the evergreen, making it the symbol of Ishtar/Isis/Ashtoreth, and made it a central item in their worship. (Ashtoreth ‘groves/poles’ in scripture – I’m sure you’ve heard of them). The wrong in it was seeking power/wisdom from another source. Does this make the evergreen ‘evil’? Heavens, no! In fact, in His OWN plan, HaShem hung His own Son on a tree/pole, as the final payment for our sins.

  I have asked every year for Yehovah to direct me as to whether or not to get rid of/not put up our tree, and every year He has not set me against it. I suspect the reason is because it’s not about the tree at all.  It’s about Truth, and where we set our hearts.  He wants us to practice HIS celebrations, and I am completely for that.  He wants us to abolish all unTruth, and I’m all about that, too.  And He wants us to worship/elevate ONLY Him.  The way we have trees, I don’t see how that interferes with worshipping only Him.

  You may have noticed not once have I called it a ‘Christmas’ tree – but rather just ‘the tree’.  At our house, we call it Etz Chaim – the Tree of Life.  It’s evergreen, a symbol of Yehovah’s ever-constant love, mercy, and justice.  It’s got white lights, because Messiah is the light of the world.  We have white garland, like snow – as He washes us white as snow. ((We also put snowflakes on our tree to that effect.))  The top is a lit star, as Messiah is the bright morning star, and a star led the wise men to the babe three years after His birth (and the end of December is 3 months after Sukkot/His birth.).  Our core bulbs are red, as the shed blood of Messiah that was hung on a tree.  We do not worship it, but use it as a reminder of our Lord and King.

  
  

  Rom 14:14-18
  I know, and am persuaded by the Messiah Yeshua,
  that there is nothing unclean of itself:
  but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
  But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat,
  now walkest thou not charitably.
  Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
  Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 
  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;
  but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
  For he that in these things serveth Christ
  is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
  

  Did you catch that?  We are not to hurt the faith of those who don’t understand by forcing them to do it OUR way, even if OUR way is better/closer to Truth than theirs… that’s called legalism, and it’s a detriment to Truth.  The kingdom of God has nothing to do with trees or stars, but peace and joy and righteousness.  By attacking the things that aren’t really ‘wrong/unclean’ is to give people grief and hurt your own testimony.  Further down in the same passage:

  
  

  And he that doubted is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith:
  for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
  

  It is SIN to force someone into legalism, because it’s not faith-based.  That’s the key, here – it’s about who you put your faith in.  If it’s Jee-zus who was born on Christ-Mass, THAT’S where the problem is.  Not whether or not you have a tree.  The tree is like the stars and the calf… just the object the Lord created, that belongs to Him.  The question is, do we serve Him, or look for something to serve in the stars/calf/tree?  Would that not also make the menorah a potential ‘evil’ thing – since it could as easily be considered something to be ‘worshipped’?  Of course not – we don’t worship a menorah any more than we worship a tree.  And herein is the danger:

  
  

  Romans 16:17
  Now I beseech you, brethren,
  mark them which cause divisions and offenses
  contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned,
  and avoid them.
  

  Ooh, ouch.  So in other words, people who are causing divisions and offenses with those of a weaker faith by demanding them to follow legalistic practices are to be not only marked, but avoided.  Of course this is AFTER showing those doing it what they are doing, and praying that they might come away from that behavior.

  So for the record, there is NOTHING wrong with having a tree in your home, if you keep that tree as a rememberance of Adonai’s love, justice, and mercy and worship only Him.  And it is actually WRONG to preach ‘no-tree-ism’ to people who do not understand the Truth of who Yehovah/Yeshua are… it causes them to stumble.  What we need to be doing is showing them how He is the author and creator of ALL things, and ALL things belong to Him, and what He truly wants from us is faith in Him and His Son, and the provision they make for us.

  • 11:11 am
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