HISTORICAL CORROBORATION OF THE CHRISTIAN EASTER (one)

 This looks like Semiramis, the goddess wife of Nimrod or Baal.

           The term Easter, found only in The Acts of the Apostles 12:4, is an interpretational anomaly of scripture. Does this anomalous insertion render the Christian Scripture counterproductive? Or maybe it does paint a heathenish portrayal of Christianity. It does not, in any way, at all, as this teaching unfolds. The term ‘Easter’ should be rendered the Greek pascha or the English ‘Passover.’ The Hebrew origin of ‘Passover’ is pesach (peh’-sakh): ‘a pretermission, that is, exemption; used only technically of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim).’

‘Easter’ is originally the Germanic Eostre, their moon goddess; no doubt, this should be Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod, the sun god. They hold this festival in worship of their goddess almost at the same March 14th or 21st at the beginning of the spring. A terrible error on the part of the translators this is.

“and when I see the blood, I will pass over you”

Says Adam Clarke in his commentary, “Every view we can take of this subject shows the gross impropriety of retaining a name every way exceptionable, and palpably absurd.” Three of the Jewish most important festivals: the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacle include the Passover. Whether the Anglo-Saxon did choose to use this day in commemoration of their goddess of spring and fertility or not is not the big deal here.

The God of the Israel had instructed them, about 1600 BC, in Exodus 12:11 “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.” This ‘Passover’ actually speaks of a protective covering. Jehovah will assume a covering God over them while the angel of destruction carries out the slaughter of the disobedient Egypt! A Christian, most definitely, is under the protection of the same LORD God. Amen.

JESUS MET THE REQUIRED UNBLEMISHED LAMB

The blood of the unblemished lamb is the term of the divine insurance policy. Was it a onetime protection? In the first two verses of Exodus chapter 12, God instituted, 1) “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2) This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”  And verse 14 says, “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” Every born again Christian is the continued generation of the spiritual Israel. And this is the big deal!

So postulates Mohammed in Qur’an An-Nisaa (chpt. 4) vs. 157

Let those who have contrary view explain to me why Mohammad will contradict Jehovah in his Qur’an, in the chapter called An-Nisa verse 157 “That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.” As the oracle of Allah, he taught in Aal-E-Imran verse 52, “When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: “Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah?” Said the disciples: “We are Allah’s helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.“ The commentary on this is quite outrageous.

The True LAMB of God

It points out that when Jesus asked, “Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah?” what He was actually asking anyone of them to do was to be transformed to look like Jesus, knowing that they were about to arrest Him. The one who kept volunteering was the youngest. The disciple had a facial surgical operation carried on him and the express image of his Lord was planted on him. He, it was, who was substituted for the Christ whose crucifixion Allah forbade. This is the submission of Mohammedan Qur’an of Allah!     (…to be continued…)

Read part two here

Jehovah’s Witness Myopic View Of Jesus (VIII)

An exchange of His zoe for the mortal life of His sheep!

 (…continued from part VII)        Does God know the time and hour? Is the fact of this knowledge decipherable in words? Is Christ the express Word of God, the Logos i.e. the totality of the Father’s mind, thought and verbalism? If this Christ is the power of God, wisdom of God personified and is the Sender of the Holy Spirit who teaches all things because He would hear from Christ what to communicate, then Christ, indubitably, knows the said time and hour. Christ just did not give this secret to be divulged by the man, Jesus: no more, no less.

The apparent humanity of Jesus manifests when He got tired, needed sleep, when He needed food and of course, His incarnate parturition. But when He ventilated His thought with, “I am the resurrection,” that was Christ. Only God can claim the personification of resurrection. When He made the asseveration, “…..I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again…..,” speaking of His redemptive life, in John 10:18, did He not speak as God would, hence, of Christ? In the next verse, the Jewish hearers thought He was suffering from the disgorgement of blasphemy. The simple reason being that He was, to the best of their understanding, Jesus, a mere carpenter, arrogating divine attributes to Himself.

One mind blowing, thought provoking thing He did in John 14:1, when He asseverated, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me;” was to display His equality with the Eternal Father! The truth is that it takes a certain affinity with the eternal Holy Spirit of Jehovah to apprehend the divine reality of His claims. Unfortunately for these Jehovah’s Witness adherents, they hate to acknowledge the divine Personage of the Holy Spirit. A spiritual loss! Selah!

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ ‘Life’ is zoe (dzow-ay’) ‘1. life-above 2. epithet of Jesus (John 14).’ Zoe comes from zao (dzah’-o) ‘1. to live {literally or figuratively}.’ It is in contrast to another Greek word, bios (bee’-os) ‘1. natural, physical life 2. (literally) the present state of bodily existence 3. (by implication) the means of livelihood.’ ‘More abundant’ is the Greek perissos (per-is-sos’) ‘1. superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality) 2. (by implication) excessive.’ He must of necessity be the Author of life-eternal to be in the position, not just to give it, but in an everlasting abundance! He is both Jesus and Christ, the incomprehensible God-man.

His nailed feet gave us befitting feet to walk the walk with God

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” To understand the unique profundity of this asseveration let us begin with ‘I am.’ When you read this verse from the Septuagint ‘I am’ will be ego eime. When Moses asked God for His name, the Septuagint rendition of God’s response is ego eime. The life, zoe, that Jesus is giving abundantly in this verse is God’s kind of life. It does not come to extermination, and absolutely nothing can bring it to extinction. What is the connection between the ‘I am’ and the shepherd? Psalm 23 opens with “The LORD is my Shepherd” where the title ‘LORD’ is Yhovah (yeh-ho-vaw’) ‘1. (the) self-Existent or Eternal 2. Jehovah, Jewish national name of God.’ In Psalm 80 the first verse reads: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” If the Shepherd of this verse is not Jehovah God, then Jesus never trod upon the surface of this terra firma.

So, when Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd” the definite article points in the direction of the One no Israelite would feign not to know: the Almighty LORD God of Israel! Amen! Jesus is the most enigmatic Personage to tread upon the surface of the earth –not an iota of doubt– if you allow yourself to be led by the Spirit and make it a duty to constantly be leaning on Him: who has come to teach us all things, which only God, the Omniscience, is capable of doing. So, if any should ask, “Who is Jesus?” The answer should simply be: “Yehoshua, the God-man, the LORD. Jesus, definitely, is very God of very GOD!”

The Eternal One died that you may have eternal life. Amen!

You can get born again by praying this prayer with all your heart and truthfully: Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins and You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and I receive Him as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory, Amen.              (Concluded)

Read part VII here

Jehovah’s Witness Myopic View Of Jesus (VII)

                  Jesus has the whole world in His hand

 (…continued from part VI)

  “Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” [Proverbs 8:30]. ‘One brought up’ is one Hebrew word, ‘âmôn (aw-mone’) ‘probably in the sense of training; skilled, that is, an architect (like ‘âmôn workman). This ‘âmôn comes from ‘âman (aw-man’) ‘properly to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; figuratively to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe.’ The underlined words are in italics. Italized words of King James Version Bible are not in the original script. They were inserted as translators’ interpretations. You will find out that when you pull them out the reading becomes more forceful.

With the Holy Spirit, the Word leads to a walk with the Father.

Wisdom, according to verse 30, was brought up or, as it were, grew up with Almighty God just as two brothers who went through an architectural training. We understand that Jehovah is eternal. If wisdom ‘grew up’ with Him and it is a scriptural truism that Jehovah has no beginning, then, the gospel truthfulness is simply that wisdom is inherently of God. This wisdom is a Personage found in scripture. Of whom is spoken of in Colossians 2:9, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”  ‘Dwelleth’ is katoikeō (kat-oy-keh’-o): ‘to house permanently, that is, reside (literally or figuratively).’

What about ‘Godhead?’ It is theotēs (theh-ot’-ace) meaning: ‘deity; the state of being God; divinity (abstractly).’ Of the same it is mentioned in 1Corinthians 1:24, “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” How can the same Person be both power and wisdom of Jehovah God? He must be inherently God. Colossians 2:3 “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” This is Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords even the Word of God. Amen!

Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Do a paltry scratch of the scriptures and you will find yourself easily concurring with the Jehovah’s Witness’ submission that Christ has no equality with the Father, after you have read the verse above. If that is what Jesus is implying then the scripture is fraught with contradictions. Thank God the Bible does not have such defects. There is an incredible duality concerning Jesus Christ. As Jesus, He is a man: born of a woman, who began His life in Mary’s womb. But as Christ, He is dateless. Not one thing created is comparable to the Creator. Neither science nor art can measure or give an absolutely perfect limn of the Creator. Not even a centillion raised to the power of a centillion years will come close to analyzing the eld of Christ.

JESUS: The most enigmatic Personage to tread the surface of the earth

He is both God and man: the son of man and the Son of God. Theologically it is called the hypostatic union. This is where God and man merge, forming an unprecedented compound of Jesus Christ. As a man, He is limited in wisdom, knowledge and power. As Christ, He is the Almighty, the wonderful everlasting Father. In Revelation 1:8 He calls Himself ‘Almighty,’ which is pantokratōr (pan-tok-rat’-ore) in Greek and it means: ‘the all ruling, that is, God (as absolute and universal sovereign).’ Isaiah announced Him as ‘Wonderful’ in chapter 9 verse 6. It is the Hebrew pele’ (peh’-leh): ‘a miracle.’

Who works miracles apart from God? The Hebrew ‘âb (awb) is ‘Father,’ defined as: ‘God as father of his people; head or founder of a household; ancestor; originator; producer or generator.’ And His Fatherhood is eternal. Amen. Jesus Christ is the God-man. Christ and Jesus had become a supernatural compound mixture forming a new entity of scientific befuddlement. Befuddling in the sense that this God-man is one hundred percent God, and 100% man. Science is too weak; it cannot explain this theological reality. The Lord Jesus is a supernatural phenomenon.

You can get born again by praying this prayer with all your heart and truthfully: Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins and You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and I receive Him as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory, Amen.              (…to be concluded…)

read part VI here

Read the concluding part VIII here

Jehovah’s Witness Myopic View Of Jesus (VI)

 

 

                                   HE IS THE PANTOKRATOS -THIS JESUS!!

(…continued from part V)   I am totally flabbergasted at the reading and the reasoning stance of Charles Taze Russell and his Jehovah’s Witnesses in relation to Revelation 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” I did point out the epithet ‘Almighty’ that Jesus called Himself; whether it deifies Him or not. The Witnessing guy explained it away by saying, “It says ‘Almighty’ not ‘Almighty God’ in the Bible.” This quite easily exposes their scriptural bankruptcy. Let us understand this verse very well by starting with ‘I am’ which is egō eime. ‘Alpha and Omega’ being the first and the last of Greek alphabetical symbols speak of words – of verbal communication.

Every verbalism that depicts Christological bankruptcy is a betrayal of abject ignorance. Alpha to Omega speaks of wordage and utterance. Alpha, being the first of Greek letters, makes Jesus the first to know before God can be known. What about from beta (the 2nd Greek letter) to psi (the 23rd or 2nd to the last letter)? Jesus fills it for: does the Bible not teach that, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” in Colossians 1:18? As the Omega Jesus is what Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”  The word ‘end’ in Romans 10:4 is telos (tel’-os) ‘From a primary word τέλλω tellō (to set out for a definite point or goal); properly the point aimed at as a limit, that is, (by implication) the conclusion of an act or state (termination [literally, figuratively or indefinitely], result [immediate, ultimate or prophetic], purpose); specifically an impost or levy (as paid).’

‘Beginning’ of Revelation 1:8 is archē (ar-khay’) ‘(properly abstract) a commencement, or (concrete) chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank).’ And ‘ending’ is telos, the as ‘end’ of Romans 10:4. In oldest manuscripts ‘Lord’ comes out as “Lord God” which makes the Greek kurios for ‘Lord’ an equivalent of Hebraic Jehovah Elohim. Which is, and which was, and which is to come, is first used in Revelation 1:4 in the description of God, the Father, seated on the throne. This expression is a Jewish periphrasis for the name Jehovah they regard as incommunicado. Why would John, of the divine use it in verse eight to describe Jesus Christ? ‘Which was’ is indicative of eternal past. ‘Which is’ points to His Divinity in the present time, while ‘which is to come’ concludes the indeclinable stance of Him who continues to remain His unchangeableness in eternity to come; and this is the Jesus Charles Russell and the host of his Witnesses refuse so blatantly to see. Does this change the unchanging Jesus of Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever?” Hallelujah!

       He proved to be the LORD, even over the waters!

Charles Russell paraded himself in the bucolic office of Pastor. He did admit during a judicial cross examination that he could not read Greek at all. The aloofness that tended his ignorance of Greek or the Septuagint did escalate his myopic view of Jesus. It worked against his understanding of the epithet, ‘the Almighty.’ Fifty-seven times ‘Almighty’ shows up in the entire Bible. For the forty-eight times of the Old Testament is the Hebrew shadday (shad-dah’-ee) ‘almighty, most powerful. Self-sufficient One. Provider. Shaddai, the Almighty (of God).’ Shaddai, to the Jews, is associated with the breast, hence, seen as the ‘many breasted One.’ There is nowhere it is written with a small letter ‘a’ simply because it qualifies the invulnerable strength of Jehovah. In all the 57 appearances it is never used of any human, animal, an inanimate object or any situation. Almighty in Greek, pantokratōr (pan-tok-rat’-ore), comes from two words: pas and kratos. Pas (pas) means: ‘each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything. Kratos (krat’-os): ‘Perhaps a primary word; vigor [“great”], (literally or figuratively).’ Every Almighty is in reference to God. Would Jesus, may I ask Jehovah’s Witnesses, had arrogated the title of Almighty to Himself? Jesus definitely made a clear categorical statement and the truth of which is read in John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Amen!

  The Eternal was born for our eternal rebirth

You can get born again by praying this prayer with all your heart and truthfully: Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins and You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and I receive Him as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory, Amen.      (…to be continued…)

Read the part V here.

Read part VII here

Jehovah’s Witness Myopic View Of Jesus (V)

Charles Taze Russell (1852 – 1916)

 (…continued from part IV)

I doubt whether Charles Russell (Feb. 16, 1852 – Oct. 31, 1916) did not harbour an unchristian agenda when he decided to form this Jehovah’s Witness sect. If not, he should have allowed the omnipotence of Jesus to enlighten him. How did he read or treat Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” He has been given all ‘power’ that is: exousia (ex-oo-see’-ah): ‘privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence.’ A delegated authority that extends, from the heavenly assizes even to the belly of the earth is omnipotent. Jesus got this authority after the resurrection, to restore Christ to His preincarnate eminence.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Worshipped in heaven, the earth and under the earth.

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;” this is what Philippians 2:10 says. The noun ‘things’ are in italics meaning that they were translators’ insertions which, therefore, were not in the original script. Every being in heaven recognises the Lordship of Jesus in a bending worship! The same One receives adored prostration on terra firma. Even the wicked souls of Hades, knowing that they are doomed forever, must bend double in worship of this enigmatic Personage! He can only be God to have His sphere of influence beyond imagination.

I am just wondering what Charles Taze Russell would had made of the Omnipresent nature of Jesus. Matthew 18:20 records the promise of Him “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” More than two billion people go to, let us say, one million churches on Sundays. All prayer sessions and places of Christian assemblage host the Lord Jesus just because He has promised to be there. Is this not indicative of His Omnipresence?

He said in Matthew 28:20, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Not only on the Lord’s days of worship has He actually promised His divine presence, He is with us always. How could a created being achieve this miraculous feat? And when He asseverated the words of John 8:58, “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am;” He spoke as God. The last two words, “I am,” is egō eime.

The myopic view, concerning Jesus, of their display has cost them their inability to know that He is very Omniscient. John 10:15 reads, “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” The adverb ‘as’ is kathōs (kath-oce’)‘just (or inasmuch) as, that.’ ‘Knoweth’ is ginōskō (ghin-oce’-ko) ‘to “know” (absolutely), in a great variety of applications.’ Can Christ possess an absolute knowledge of God without being an omniscient deity Himself? 1Corinthians 1:24 “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” The whole world’s affairs are basically standing on two legged stance of religion and politics. Both of the Greek insatiable lust for global political glory, and the Jewry anticipatory rejuvenation of her sacerdotal calling before Jehovah come under the preeminence of Jesus, who wields the worshipful pantokrator political and religious power.

This is what Colossians 2:2-3 say: “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3) In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The mystery of the Omniscience of Jesus is, in these verses, revealed in Colossians 2:9,“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The profundity of this scripture is that Jesus containerizes the eternity of all of the attributes of the Godhead. Will a created being possess enough capacity to bank all the fullness of the Godhead bodily? I think not!

The Jews were ready to assassinate Jesus for equalling Himself with Jehovah, not knowing that He was the same Personage who told their father Abraham to leave Ur; was the very One who visited him to announce the procreation of the yet to be gestated Isaac when He and two angels supped in his tent. Little did they know that standing before them was the One whose power erected the saline ocean which stood at attention for their great, great, great grandparents to have a miraculous dry access through the Red Sea! They could not phantom how the One whose finger etched the Decalogue and whose mouth read it to them would be standing in flesh and blood before their mortal presence.

      With dyed garments from Bozrah!

How could their (Jehovah’s Witnesses) imperviousness not allow them to believe that standing before them was the Personage of the prophetic afflatus, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save” [Isaiah 63:1]? There is only one Jehovah made visibly known to those who truly seek Him – He’s Jesus. Are these Jehovah’s Witness people of an errant Charles Taze Russell truly witnessing the true kerygma? Selah.

You can get born again by praying this prayer with all your heart and truthfully: Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins and You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and I receive Him as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory, Amen.      (…to be continued…)       

Read part IV by clicking here

Click to read part VI