Chanukah Season Is Here... As we grow and walk with the Lord, we must be humble enough to leave room for change; to allow the Lord to continually mold us and shape us into His image. With that being said, our family continues to grow and change, according to The Holy Spirit’s leading and conviction. The Chanukah season is here and our family has decided, that we will not longer be celebrating nor participating in Chanukah (The Festival of Lights). As most of you know, Chanukah is not a Torah-mandated festival, nor is it found within the Tanach. The renewed testament scriptures do however make “reference” to The Feast of Dedication. Yet, it is merely a reference. Nowhere does it imply that Yeshua nor His disciples actually celebrated or kept the Feast of Dedication. It’s it important to note, that there are only three sources that make mention of the story of Chanukah; the book of Maccabees, which is part of the Catholic Canon, the Babylonian Talmud (which we shouldn’t adhere to as Messianics), and Josephus makes reference to “The Festival of Lights”. There are many problems and contradictions with all the references to Chanukah, as they all do not agree with each other. Whether or not they do or do not agree is beside the point, as neither of them are Biblically founded. The 1st book of Maccabees tells of the re-dedication of the Temple. However, it also makes mention of pagan practices which they adopted from the Greeks during the feast of Saturnalia. This clearly gives weight as to why it wouldn’t have been accepted as part of our Biblical Canon. The Babylonian Talmud (a very diabolical book) on the other hand, adds to it, and makes reference to the story of the miracle of oil, which lasted for eight days. The Talmud also makes reference to the fact that is was celebrated 8 days before the Winter Solstice, followed 8 days later by the feast of Kalenda, which also marks the re-dedication of the Temple to Saturn. Yet the Talmud tries to justify the feast by saying it was later paganized (this coming from a book which has so many statements that contradict Yahweh’s word and even encourage things which can be compared to the Quran. Now keep in mind, “The Feast of Dedication”, occurred during The Feast of Saturnalia. The temple was dedicated on the first day of Saturnalia (December 17 or Kislev 25). Originally Saturnalia was celebrated from December 17-23 on the Julian calendar, it was later extended to the 25. During this time, they had a hollow statue of Saturn, which they filled with Olive Oil. While Josephus makes mention of the Jewish Festival of Lights. It is interesting to note, that Saturnalia was also known as The Festival of Lights. This is merely a brief overview of Chanukah, and much more can be expounded. As believers in Yeshua Messiah, it is our responsibility to abide by His word and His word alone. Scripture reminds us not to add or take away from His word (Deuteronomy 4:2). We shouldn’t be celebrating a feast that is not part of our Scriptures. Yet that is exactly what we have done by adding celebrations and artifacts, which He did not condone or mandate. We are also told not to take on the ways of the nations (Jeremiah 10:2), which clearly when fully studying all the sources for the story of Chanukah, we have done. We are not here to tell anyone what to celebrate or not to celebrate. If you read your bibles, as you should, you should know what you should be celebrating. Yet we are here to declare what Yahweh has convicted us of, so there is not misunderstanding as to where we stand or why we won’t be celebrating Chanukah any longer as a congregation. So many have come to us expressing their similar concerns and convictions. Remember, if you have any doubt within your soul or dont feel a peace about a matter, it’s probably the Ruach HaKodesh nudging you in His direction. We only pray and urge you to study further for yourselves, and ask that the Ruach HaKodesh show you His truth.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 13:48:53 +0000
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