FROM THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION – CHAYYEY SARAH:

FROM THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION - CHAYYEY SARAH:

Proof of Purchase!

“And Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years, the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Qiryath Arba, that is Chevron, in the land of Kena’an, and Avraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Avraham rose up from beside his dead, and spoke to the sons of Cheth, saying, ‘I am a foreigner and a sojourner among you. Give me property for a burial-site among you, so that I bury my dead from my presence.’ And the sons of Cheth answered Avraham, saying to him, ‘Hear us, my master: You are a prince of Elohim among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial-sites. None of us withholds from you his burial-site, from burying your dead.’ So Avraham rose and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Cheth. And he spoke with them, saying, ‘If it is your desire that I bury my dead from my presence, hear me, and approach Ephron son of Tsochar for me, and let me have the cave of Makpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me for the complete amount of silver, as property for a burial-site among you.’ And Ephron dwelt among the sons of Cheth. And Ephron the Chittite answered Avraham in the hearing of the sons of Cheth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, ‘No, my master, listen to me! I shall give you the field and the cave that is in it. I shall give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I shall give it to you. Bury your dead!’ And Avraham bowed himself down before the people of the land, and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, ‘If only you would hear me. I shall give the amount of silver for the field, take it from me, and let me bury my dead there.’ And Ephron answered Avraham, saying to him, ‘My master, listen to me! The land is worth four hundred sheqels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.’ And Avraham listened to Ephron, and Avraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Cheth, four hundred sheqels of silver, currency of the merchants. Thus the field of Ephron which was in Makpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Avraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Cheth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. And after this Avraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Makpelah, before Mamre, that is Chevron, in the land of Kena’an. Thus the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Avraham by the sons of Cheth as property for a burial-site.”

The Masoretic Text is the go-to text when it agrees with me.
The LXX is also the go-to text... when it agrees with me.

In this paradigm, one has made oneself the authority, not the Word of God.

This is where the irony grows extremely strong and becomes apparent. Christian parents will keep their children away from trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes; they will avoid Halloween calling it devils night and Satan’s holiday. They will rail at its being pagan and demonic… Only to drag a tree into their house a few months later and give their kids presents from some fat guy that climbs down their chimney; they avoid Halloween like the plague but embrace the pagan holiday of Christmas with pomp.

What’s gives?

What difference does it make between one pagan holiday and another? Are we better for refusing one and embracing the other, or better off? And if we are not willing to go all out in ridding our lives wholly of heathenism, why are we even bothering at all?

All pagan holidays are one and the same.

No they do not proceed from Babylon like so many Messy mythologies make out that they do. They were not started by Nimrod. They were not organized by Sameraimis. That one ancient society began leading the world into idolatry, but they are not to blame for all the baleful abominations, subsequent societies have created on their own.

We infact are more to blame for not doing our due diligence and studying the matters that we claim to be bad.

Halloween is not an ancient Babylonian death rite. It is, however, an American holiday shaped by American commercialism, and it is extremely modern. But it came to us from Irish immigrants.

Christmas is not the birthday of the ancient king of Babylon and it too is an American holiday shaped by American commercialism and extremely modern. But it came to us from German immigrants.

Easter is not the birthday of the ancient pagan sex goddess of Babylon but is an American holiday shaped by American commercialism and extremely modern; and it came to us by way of great Britain.

Each of these holidays evolved overtime, and their origins are lost to time. We can guess. We can speculate. We can suppose. But we cannot say for certain about the beginning of any of these bad habits.

However, we do know the point at which we inherited them. We know which cultures gave them to us, which countries they came through, and what captitalism has turned them into today.

Yet it is true that they are all the same. They are all pagan. They are all heathen. They are all “other”.

Everyone of these holidays comes to us from outside the pages of Scripture and beyond the people of Israel. They have nothing to do with us, nothing to do with our Saviour, nothing to do with our Way of Life. So why are we trying to have anything to do with them?

And why would we pick one and call the other evil? Is one pagan habit better than another? Is one pagan tradition more wholesome than another? Possible perhaps, but it should not be the point. Because no matter what it is in quality, it is foreign to the true faith.

Our Heavenly Father has given us holy days. Times that He decided deserve our celebration Appointments He makes on His calendar to meet with us. Happy occasions He believes are specia, and they are special because He made them so. These things actually celebrate what we claim to hold dear. Celebrations which actually preceded from the Scriptures themselves

Yet by and large, the people who claim to belong to the Book refuse all these as inherently Jewish. And refused them because they themselves are not Jewish… Yet they are not German. They are not Irish. They are not British. Even if our ancestors came from the land of those people and their blood is in whole or in part common unto theirs, they are mostly American. And most are Christian. So why would we refuse to celebrate one holiday they call Jewish on the basis of their not being that nationality or religion, but embrace another holiday that is actually German or Irish or British when they themselves are not that nationality either nor the religions of those peoples that made them originally? If we are not those things and we do not celebrate holidays that belong to other people, why are we taking those holidays and making them American, and why can we not do the same for the things we think are Jewish?

The question is worth asking…

But in truth these holy days are not Jewish at all. They were given to all of Israel, and they belong to the Almighty above. They are His celebrations gifted to us. Why should we refuse them in favor of lesser commercialized propagandized events that have no true meaning to us beyond nostalgia? And why should we refuse one pagan tradition while embracing another?

Give up your pagan holidays, one and all and return to the only days and times that are worth celebrating - those that belong to our Heavenly Father.

Question Everything
templecrier.com/paganism

https://storage.googleapis.com..../production-ipage-v1

"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Mt 5

Very effective martial arts maneuvers often involve moving with the opponent's energy and redirecting it, rather than stopping or turning it straight back.

Likewise when someone is seeking and turning to the truth, the most dangerous counter of the enemy is not contradiction but redirection - the devil has only his own agenda, he is more than happy for someone to be converted from one paganism to another, from one false doctrine to another.

No doubt he especially likes it when two falsehoods are contrary, and a third party takes the worst of both and considers himself enlightened above the conflict, when he is baser than both sides of it.

#sabbathposts 2024/10/19

And I'm back! I have these times of getting locked out of the app on my phone. Still am actually. I keep forgetting the password when it will randomly ask for it again. Apparently I'm still logged in on the desktop though.

Have a great week!

Shabbat shalom during the Feast of Sukkot!

Shabbat shalom during the Feast of Sukkot!