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January-Feburary-2005
Inside
this issue: The
Idol Shepherd, The
Messiah, Torah and Me,
Who
Is On The Cross? Elohim
Made In The Image Of Man
This issue is our Jan.—Feb. issue. The modern-day world, of
course, follows the Caesarean-Papist dictates of calendar observance. Julius and
Augustus Caesar formulated the calendar that begins with the month of January
adding the month of July for Julius and August for Augustus. Pope Gregory
refined it in his day, which now gives it the name Gregorian Calendar. But there
is no real rhyme nor reason for the year to begin in the month of January in the
“dead” of winter. Originally, Rome’s calendar began in the spring, in
March or April, around the equinox. Spring is when things are springing to life
after the death sleep of winter. Yahweh’s sacred calendar also began in the
March-April time frame. The first month of Yahweh’s sacred calendar began with the new
moon of Abib (green ears) or Nisan. And that is another misnomer (I am speaking
of Caesar’s calendar). The English word “month” comes from the word
“moon.” A month is supposed to be a lunation or a cycle of the moon. A
lunation is the time that it takes for the moon to go through one complete
cycle, from one new moon to the next new moon or a period of about 29-1/2 days.
The same situation applies in Hebrew terminology. The Hebrew words for moon and
month are from the same source. But Caesar deceived the world by designating months that have no
relationship to the moon at all, and great is that deception. Yahweh’s
calendar is most significant and important because it determines the annual
feast days or holy days. These annual feast or holy days are extremely important
because they remind us of His great plan and purpose for the ushering in of His
kingdom and salvation. If we fail to observe them, then we are not reminded and
we forget. We get more involved with just living in this world, making a living,
accumulating wealth and possessions in a life that is perishing with the using.
How many people have accumulated much through their efforts only to wake up one
morning and find themselves penniless and impoverished? Neither does the
accumulation of wealth and possessions deliver us from death or from judgment in
the life to come. While we can live well and comfortably in this life, that
wealth and those possessions have nothing to do with preparing us for the real
future which is beyond the grave. The observance of Yahweh’s calendar and ways
does prepare us for that future, however. Caesar’s calendar is extremely deceptive, as stated. It even
begins with deception. The first month is the month of January which is named
after the two-faced Roman god Janus. To be two-faced means to be deceptive. Look
it up in your own dictionary. Janus was the god of doorways. He was represented
with two bearded faces which were looking in opposite directions. He held a
staff in one hand and keys in the other. This, of course, places him in
opposition with Yahshua. Yahshua told His disciples that He was the door (Jn.
10) and he informed John and the Philadelphian Assembly that He had the key of
David with which He is able to open and shut (Rev. 3). Caesar causes the world to become steeped in the worship of his
gods through the dates of his own calendar. Most people don’t realize that he
was declared to be “Pontifex Maximus,” or the high priest of the Roman
religion and all religions of all people that the Romans conquered. January
begins the observance of “Carnival” (Mardi Gras) which leads into Lent
(forty days of so-called fasting) and then Easter. During this time
Valentine’s day also occurs. Valentine’s day represents the approach of
males and females to each other which leads to Easter or the ancient pagan
fertility rite. Nine months later (the period of gestation, of course) a child
is born. This culminates with the infamous night of December 24th called holy or
mother night and Christmas day. (Order our booklet entitled Holidays or Holydays
for more information.) None of it has to do with the worship of the true Elohim
Yahweh nor His Son, the Messiah Yahshua. Caesar’s calendar also sanctifies
Sunday rather than the Sabbath even though the Sabbath is in its rightful place
as the “seventh” day of the week. Yahweh placed the sun, moon and stars in the heaven to be for signs
and seasons. We, in this assembly, utilize the visible new moon crescent in
order to determine the beginning of the months. There is plenty of historical
data to prove this. But, interestingly, the crescent moon of the first month
(Abib or Nisan) looks like a bowl sitting horizontally. In other words, a bowl
or cup that has the ability to hold something. But the crescent of the new moon
of the seventh month, which is the final month of Yahweh’s sacred calendar,
appears vertically, like a backward “C. This makes it look like the bowl is
pouring out its contents and surely and truly it is. For Yahweh’s people who follow Him and His commanded ways, it is
a bowl full of blessings at the first which is gradually tipped throughout the
Spring and Summer months, in essence, pouring those blessing out upon His
people. The seventh month represents the period of time when His blessings have
been completely poured out on His people. But for those who don’t follow His
ways, it represents wrath because His wrath will be poured out on the
disbelievers and those who follow the pernicious ways of the abominable harlot
that leads the world into false idolatrous worship, ergo, the inheritor of the
Roman title “Pontifex Maximus” and her false, deceptive, pagan religious
worship. While we are presently bound to Caesar’s calendar concerning the
civil government, historical dating, etc., we don’t have to be bound to his
false, deceitful religious observances. We can turn, forsake the falsehood and
deception, embrace Yahweh’s calendar, and serve and worship Him, observe His
appointed days (the Sabbath, annual holy days, etc.) and learn of Him.
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Yahshua the Messiah
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,”
(Acts 2:38) urges the Apostle Peter and we at this assembly encourage the same.
JH THE
IDOL SHEPHERD PART
II THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER
Much of Zechariah chapter 11 is
pinpointed to be speaking of Yahshua’s day, for verses 12-13 speak
of the 30 pieces (shekels) of silver of which Yahshua was estimated to be
valued.
Verses 12-13 read, “And I said unto them, ‘If ye think good, give me
my price; and if not, forbear.’ So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And Yahweh said unto me, ‘Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.’ And I took the thirty
pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of Yahweh.”
It is no coincidence that Judas Iscariot bargained for the betrayal of
Yahshua and was paid thirty pieces of silver, “Then one of the twelve, called
Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, ‘What will ye
give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?’ And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver,” Mt.
26:14-15.
After the betrayal, the rest of the prophecy was fulfilled, “Then
Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented
himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and
elders, saying, ‘I have sinned in that I have betrayed, the innocent blood.’
And they said, ‘What is that to us? See thou to that.’ And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple, and departed,
and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and
said, ‘It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the
price of blood.’ And they took counsel, and bought with them the
potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, ‘The field of
blood’, unto this day,” Mt. 27:3-7.
Matthew 27:9-10 continues with the spoken, but not written words of the
prophet Jeremiah, “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the
prophet, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, (the price of Him
That was valued, Whom they of the children of Israel did value); And gave them
for the potter’s field, as Yahweh appointed me.”
One of the interesting things about this estimation is that according to
Yahweh’s law in the book of Leviticus, if a female made a singular vow for or
unto Yahweh the estimation for her was to be thirty shekels according to the
shekel of the sanctuary (27:1-4). Israel was Yahweh’s bride by the marriage
covenant or vow taken at Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:3-7). The people had not been
faithful to the vow or covenant made and the price had to be paid.
Once the price had been paid, the Messiah put to death, buried and
resurrected, a new work was begun by the disciples of Yahshua, for the rulers of
that time had not been faithful in administering Yahweh’s covenant. Yahweh states that he would cut off three shepherds in one
month (Zech. 11:8). But the real meaning of this statement has been hidden. The
three shepherds were the leaders of the Pharisees, Sadduccees, and Scribes. The
statement “in one month” is translated in the Hebrew Interlinear Bible as, “in month one.” This should have been translated in month one
having reference to the first month of the year, Abib, which is when Yahshua
suffered and paid the penalty, thus qualifying to be instituted as the High
Priest and King over Israel (Heb. 4:14; 5:10) and therefore cutting off the three
shepherd groups, the scribes, Pharisees and Sadduccees from their capacity of leadership over
the people.
Zechariah 11:8 reveals the hostility that existed between Yahshua and the
rulers over the people at that time, for it says, “Three shepherds also I cut
off in one month (month one); and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. The rulers of
the people sought to attribute Yahshua’s wondrous miracles to Beelzebub, the
prince of devils, while Yahshua continually condemned them calling them the
children of the devil.
Zechariah 11 reveals that after the cutting off of the shepherds and the
paying of the estimated price of thirty pieces of silver, Yahweh would cut
asunder the staff called Bands. The people of Judah were overthrown and cast out
of the land by the Roman armies before many of the generation that had witnessed
Yahshua’s ministry had expired. Yahweh then proclaims that he would set up the
foolish, idol shepherd. ANALYZING ZECH. 11:15-17
Yahweh commanded Zechariah to take the instruments of a foolish shepherd (v. 15). The word foolish also means
worthless, impious, perverse. These words describe the instruments or implements
of the foolish shepherd. His implements of worship are worthless. They are
impious or unrighteous. They are perverse. Peter warned the people of his day to
save themselves from that untoward (perverse) generation (Acts 2:40).
In verse 17, the idol shepherd was shown as one who leaves the flock. Who was this perverse idol shepherd? The Encyclopedia Britannica, Fourteenth Edition, Volume 21, pp. 776-777
has this to say about one named Tammuz: “Sumerian,
Babylonian and Assyrian God, who died and rose annually with dying and reviving
vegetation, originally Dumu-zi, ‘the son who rises, goes forth (from the
nether world),” but generally interpreted “faithful son.’....In astrology
Tammuz was identified with Aries (Note: Aries always falls in the first month of the Hebrew calendar, the
month of Abib, in which Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread are observed.
Easter also falls in this period of time.); in the magic rituals he is symbolized by a white kid, and he is also connected with the ram,
which led to his astral identification. Under the title Sibzianna, ‘faithful shepherd of heaven,’ he was identified with Orion....He was held to be a god of healing, bestower of health, and one who,
like all other deities, had power over the demons. It is obvious that a cult
which is based upon the death and resurrection of a propitiating god, and upon the love of a divine mother who wails for her son, has direct
connection with the facts and the theological views based upon them, which gave birth to
Christianity. But the form of the cult which apparently most directly affected the
origins of Christianity is that in which Marduk of Baylon was
identified with Tammuz. At the Nisan of new year festival at Babylon, Bel (Marduk) was said to have been imprisoned in the lower world, and a priestess
weeps at his sepulchre. A malefactor was slain with Bel and they descend together to the land of darkness. Beltis, his wife, descends to hell to seek him, and Bel’s garments are given Ishtar (mother of Tammuz). Bel was laid in a
sepulchre, from which he soon comes forth. This Marduk transformation
of the national Tammuz cult is only
another effort of the priesthood of the capital to enlarge the worship and
importance of the local cult. It obtained nowhere else in Babylonia and Assyria,
and may be regarded as a true interpretation of what transpired regularly in the
Tammuz cult itself. That the
cult had direct influence upon the origins of Christianity cannot be denied, and the Greek
cult of Adonis owes its essential content to the Sumerian Tammuz....He is described as the
shepherd who left his flocks, as the shepherds sat in the fields wailing for Tammuz.” (Emphasis mine).
Isn’t it interesting that Tammuz is considered to the the Faithful Shepherd on the one hand, yet he left his flocks on the other hand.
Yahweh appeared to the prophet Ezekiel and carried him to Jerusalem where
He began to show him all the abominations being committed by the people of
the land (Ez. 8:1-12).
Then Yahweh said, “Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater
abominations that they do.’ Then He brought me to the door of the gate of
Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said He unto me, ‘Hast thou seen
this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations
than these.’ And He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house, and,
behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar,
were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh,
and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then He said unto me, ‘Hast thou seen
this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit
the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with
violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch
to their (should be My) nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall
not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a
loud voice, yet will I not hear them,’” Ez. 8:13-18.
The people were weeping for and worshipping Tammuz, the son of Ishtar.
The word “East” in Hebrew also means “the sunrising.” The people of
Judah were observing Easter (Ishtar) sunrise services which is associated with
the annual rising of Tammuz or Bel (a false, pagan messiah) from the underworld.
Look at the false paganistic gods associated with and equivalent to
Tammuz and Ishtar as enumerated in the Britannica article: Adonis, Bel, Beltis,
Marduk and Orion. ISHTAR
Ishtar was the mother of Tammuz. Just who is Ishtar? The Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th Edition, Vol.12, p. 707 reveals, “ISHTAR, the name of the chief goddess of Babylonia and Assyria, the counterpart
of the Phoenician Astarte (q.v.). The earliest written form of the
name is Ash-dar, an Accadian rendering of the older
Sumerian deity identified with the Sumerian virgin mother-goddess, who is always
associated with the planet Venus. For this
reason Ashdar, Ishtar, is undoubtedly the same deity as the south Arabian Athtar, god of the planet Venus. At all events it is now generally recognized that the name is Semitic
in its origin. Where the name originated is likewise uncertain, but the
indications point to *Erech, where we find
the worship of a great Sumerian mother-goddess having no
association with a male counterpart flourishing in the oldest period of
Babylonian history. She appears under various names, among which are Nana, Innanna, Nina and Anunit. As early as the days of Khammurabi we find these various names which
represented originally different goddesses, though all manifest as the chief trait the life-giving power united in Ishtar. Even when the
older names are employed it is always the great mother-goddess who is meant.
Ishtar is the one goddess in the pantheon who retains her independent position
despite and throughout all changes that the Babylonian-Assyrian religion
undergoes.” *
NOTE: Erech was built by Nimrod, the first great despot and city builder after
the flood. (Gen. 10:10)
Alexander Hislop writes, “Then look at Easter. What means the term
Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of
Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian
monuments, is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain,
along with the Druids, ‘the
priests of the groves,’” The Two Babylons, p. 103.
Ishtar, Easter is the queen of heaven, a virgin-mother goddess. She was also known as the great mother of the gods.
What does Yahweh say about this queen of heaven? “Seest thou not what
they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children
gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough,
to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour
out drink offerings unto other elohim, that they may provoke Me to anger. Do
they provoke Me to anger? saith Yahweh: do they not provoke themselves to the
confusion of their own faces?” Jer. 7:17-19.
Jeremiah was furthermore inspired to warn, “The word that came to
Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell
at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
‘Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil
that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and,
behold, this day they are a desolation,
and no man dwelleth therein, Because of their wickedness which they have committed to
provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other elohim, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the
prophets, rising early and sending them, saying,
‘Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.’ But they
hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other elohim. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was
poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at
this day. Therefore now thus saith
Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; ‘Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child
and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense
unto other elohim in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a
reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have ye forgotten the wickedness of
your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of
their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which
they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? They
are not humbled even unto this day,
neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set
before you and before your fathers.’ Therefore thus saith Yahweh of hosts, the
Elohim of Israel; ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut
off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces
to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by
the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by
the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that
dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence: So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are
gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they
should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return
to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.’ Then all the
men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other elohim, and all
the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in
the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, ‘As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Yahweh, we will not
hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of
our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour
out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in
the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we
left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by
the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out
drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink
offerings unto her, without our men?’ Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men,
and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, ‘The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and
in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes,
and the people of the land, did not Yahweh remember them, and came it not into his mind? So that Yahweh could no longer bear, because of the evil of your
doings, and because of the abominations
which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and
an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against Yahweh, and have not
obeyed the voice of Yahweh, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in
his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.’
Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, ‘Hear the
word of Yahweh, all Judah that are in the land of
Egypt: Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, saying; ‘Ye and your
wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying,
‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings
unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.’
Therefore hear ye the word of Yahweh, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt;
‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith Yahweh, that my name shall no
more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying,
‘Yahweh ELOHIM liveth.’ Behold,
I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that
are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine,
until there be an end of them,’” Jer. 44:1-27.
The end result is that today’s Christianity, even as the Jews described
here, have erred concerning the faith and introduced Easter sunrise services
which, in truth, is the worship of Ishtar, the queen of heaven, and her son
Tammuz. These are the implements of an idol shepherd. They are an abomination to Yahweh and those who persist in this false
abominable worship will suffer the same fate that the Jews did in Jeremiah’s
day. THE TRUTH ABOUT EASTER The
Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say
about the observance of Easter, “The annual festival observed throughout
Christendom in commemoration of the resurrection of J-sus Chr-st. The name
Easter, like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede (De Temp. Rat. c. XV.) it is derived from Eostre, or Ostâra, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the
month answering to our April, and called Eostur-monath, was
dedicated. This month, Bede says, was the same as the mensis Paschalis, ‘when the old festival was observed with the gladness of a new
solemnity.’
The root pasch, from which so
many other names for Easter are derived, is from the Hebrew pisach (Passover) from the verb form ‘he passed over.’
There is no indication of
the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings
of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from
the minds of the first Chr-stians, who continued to observe the Jewish festivals, though in a
new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed.
Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it of Chr-st as the true
Paschal Lamb and the first fruits from the dead, continued to be observed, and
became the Chr-stian Easter.” (14th Edition, Vol. 7, pp 858-859)
The International Bible
Standard Encyclopedia says, “EASTER (AV Acts 12:4). An anachronistic mistranslation of the Gk. páscha (RSV, NEB, ‘Passover’), in which
the AV followed such earlier versions as Tyndale and Coverdale. The Acts passage
refers to the seven-day Passover festival (including the Feast of Unleavened
Bread). It is reasonably certain that the NT contains no reference to a yearly celebration of the resurrection of Chr-st.
I. Origin of the Term.–The term
Easter was derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Eostre,’ the name of the goddess of
spring. In her honor sacrifices were offered at the time of the vernal equinox. By the 8th cent. the term came to be applied to the anniversary of Chr-st’s
resurrection.” (Vol. Two, p. 6)
Do the importance of these statements sink into your mind? None of the
apostolic Fathers wrote about nor did they observe Easter.
The original true followers and believers of Yahshua continued to observe the
festivals of Yahweh as commanded in Leviticus 23, which were foreshadows of
things to come. OTHER INSTRUMENTS OF AN IDOL SHEPHERD I. CHRISTMAS
December 25 is an instrument of the foolish, idol shepherd. It is an
easily proven fact that Yahshua, the TRUE MESSIAH, was not born anywhere near
the time of December 25th. Luke says that there were shepherds abiding in the
field, keeping watch over their flock by night, LK. 2:8. The winter was too
severe for shepherds to tend their flocks by night. They would shut up their
flocks at night in pens and corrals from October-November through April-May. The
true facts prove that Yahshua was actually born between April-May through
October-November, the exact opposite time of the year that is presently
observed.
Anne Ross and Don Robins wrote, “Most of the great calendar feasts of
the Celtic year were later placed under the protection of the church! Imbole was
assigned to St. Brigit, Lughnasa became Lammas, the First Fruits festival
(Pentecost); Samain was changed to All Saints Day (Halloween), and the solstice feasts of midsummer and midwinter became St. John’s Day and Christmas respectively,” The Life and Death of a Druid Prince, p. 35. Alexander Hislop reveals that December 25th was the day appointed for the birth of the son of |
