Removing the High Places

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>Removing the High Places</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Joseph Herrin (11-20-01)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The Father has been speaking to me recently about removing the High Places in our lives. The High Places are those areas of our lives that remain untouched even when we are experiencing repentance, purging, and cleansing in many other places. The High Places are usually among the last areas of our lives that we allow the light of the Holy Spirit to expose for they are often things that we have some sort of attachment to that goes back a long way, perhaps many generations and we are hesitant to throw down these High Places.</div> <bR> <div> This article is particularly going to address a couple of items which the Spirit has revealed stand as High Places in the lives of a majority of the saints, and in some ways they are associated with Christianity itself, being deeply ingrained and well established traditions, causing multitudes of saints to hesitate to allow the Spirit to shine the light of truth upon them. But it is our hope that those reading these words have a greater zeal to be found walking in truth than they have a reverence and love for false tradition, or a fear of the opinions of men.</div> <bR> <div> The issues the Spirit has directed my heart toward at this time are the celebration of Christmas and Easter, both of which are pagan in origin, which the church participates in and even reveres. Let me begin by sharing some scriptures that the Spirit of Yahweh has related to this issue.</div> <bR> <div> I Kings 3:2-4</div> <div> 2     The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.</div> <div> 3     Now Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of his father David, <I><B>except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>4     And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> I Kings 11:7-8</div> <div> 7     <I><B>Then Solomon built a high place </B></I>for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.</div> <div> 8     <I><B>Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> There is no doubt that Solomon loved Yahweh. We are told in I Kings 3:3 that Solomon loved Yahweh. Yet Solomon did that which his father David did not do. He went up to the High Places to make sacrifices. Solomon even made these sacrifices to Yahweh, even though there was no commandment given to make sacrifices to Yahweh on these High Places. Even so, we will see that the church today makes sacrifices upon the High Places that it reveres, Christmas and Easter, and it does so in the name of Yahweh and His Son Yahshua, but they have no command to do so.</div> <bR> <div> Later in Solomon’s life we are told that he also built new High Places. He built them because he loved many foreign women and his wives desired to sacrifice to their false gods. It should be noted here that it was a love for something other than Yahweh that led Solomon to build these High Places. We will also see that it is a love the church holds for things other than God that has led her to establish the High Places that remain to this day. But let us continue our look at the scriptures first.</div> <bR> <div> I Kings 12:26-33</div> <div> 26     And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David...</div> <div> 28     So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."</div> <div> 29     And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.</div> <div> 30     Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.</div> <div> 31     <I><B>And he made houses on high places</B></I>, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.</div> <div> 32     <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" ><I><B>And Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month</B></I></FONT>, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" >like the feast which is in Judah</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.</FONT></div> <div> 33     <I><B>Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart</B></I>; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> This is a most telling passage of scripture. King Jeroboam was entrusted with shepherding Yahweh’s people. He was given ten tribes of Israel yet, because he was afraid that he would not be able to keep their hearts and their loyalty, he established the worship of false idols to keep their hearts turned closer to home, and ultimately keeping the people from worshiping Yahweh in His temple.</div> <bR> <div> We are further told that Jeroboam set-up one of these idols in Bethel whose name means “house of God.” We will see that the church has also set-up its idols in the house of God to keep people’s loyalties firmly associated with the church, even when the end effect is to draw people away from a pure worship of Yahweh. The church has been more worried about losing its role as a shepherd of the people of God than it has been concerned about these same people actually worshiping God in spirit and in truth.</div> <bR> <div> Note further that Jeroboam established feast days “which he devised in his own heart” to be a substitute for the feast days in Jerusalem. In the same way the church has adopted feast days of their own devising, and they have used these as a substitute for the true feasts of Yahweh. Look in the scriptures and see, there were three main feasts that the people of God were to celebrate and the dates are clearly given for their celebration. These feasts are Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Look closely and you will see that there is no Holy Day (holiday) named Christmas in scripture, nor is there a Holy Day named after the pagan goddess Easter (Ishtar, Eostre, Astarte, Ashtoreth) upon which the church is commanded to celebrate.</div> <bR> <div> (Some might think this is irrelevant, assuming that the feasts of the Old Testament are no longer applicable today. One should note that the feasts have found their greatest significance in the New Testament, for it was on Passover that the Messiah was offered up as our sacrificial lamb, and it was on Pentecost that the Spirit was given to the church. Tabernacles has yet to be realized in its fulness, but we are given indication in Zephaniah 14:16-19 that this feast will continue to be celebrated during the Millennial period of the Kingdom of God. Though these feasts are “carnal ordinances” they hold great significance for those who are members of the Kingdom of God and they all point to Christ. The saints could well benefit from an understanding, and even a remembrance of these feasts, whereas the holidays of Christmas and Easter do not hold forth the same benefit to the children of God.)</div> <bR> <div> It is amazing, is it not, that the church today can tell you the dates and months that Christmas and Easter are celebrated on, but they cannot tell you the dates for the true feasts of Yahweh? This is certainly a sign of the apostasy, the great falling away from truth, that Paul spoke of to the Thessalonian believers. Christmas and Easter were Holy Days established by man just as surely as King Jeroboam established dates of his own devising to be a substitute for the true feasts of Yahweh. What saint today does not know that Christmas is celebrated on December 25th, the date of Saturnalia and Sol Invictus which are both pagan holidays, yet they cannot tell you the date of Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles which were established by the command of Yahweh? Let the true saint of God pause and consider the implications of this great discrepancy. Has not the church fallen from truth?</div> <bR> <div> Let us press on to examine some other scriptures. The following scriptures are reminiscent of the reforms that have come to the church from time to time. Even as the church of the last two thousand years has had its reformers, so the nation of Israel had its godly kings that turned the course of the nation back from a path of darkness. What is revealed, however, is that such reforms were rarely as thorough as they should have been. Even Kings who are accounted as godly often failed to remove the High Places that remained as an affront to a holy God.</div> <bR> <div> I Kings 15:11-14</div> <div> 11     And Asa did what was right in the sight of [Yahweh], like David his father.</div> <div> 12     He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land, and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.</div> <div> 13     And he also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image and burned it at the brook Kidron.</div> <div> 14     <I><B>But the high places were not taken away</B></I>; nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to [Yahweh] all his days.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> I Kings 22:42-43</div> <div> 42     Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem...</div> <div> 43     And he walked in all the way of Asa his father; he did not turn aside from it, doing right in the sight of [Yahweh]. <I><B>However, the high places were not taken away</B></I>; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 12:2-3</div> <div> 2     And Jehoash did right in the sight of [Yahweh] all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.</div> <div> 3     <I><B>Only the high places were not taken away</B></I>; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 14:1-4</div> <div> 1     In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king...</div> <div> 3     And he did right in the sight of [Yahweh], yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.</div> <div> 4     <I><B>Only the high places were not taken away</B></I>; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 15:1-4</div> <div> 1     In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king...</div> <div> 3     And he did right in the sight of [Yahweh], according to all that his father Amaziah had done.</div> <div> 4     <I><B>Only the high places were not taken away</B></I>; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 15:32-35</div> <div> 32     Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah became king...</div> <div> 34     And he did what was right in the sight of [Yahweh]; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.</div> <div> 35     <I><B>Only the high places were not taken away</B></I>; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> Over and over, we see from these testimonies that the removal of that which stood against the holiness of Yahweh was often in part, and not in totality. Sadly many of these godly kings had a footnote added to the history of their reign, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" >“only the high places were not taken away.”</FONT> Lest we should point fingers and condemn, we should consider whether we have allowed the Spirit of Yahweh to shine the light of truth upon the High Places of our lives. We should consider whether we have removed all that is in our lives that stands against the holiness of God.</div> <bR> <div> There are certain things that do not bear parting with easily. Why did these godly kings not remove the High Places? Consider how long these High Places had stood. Some existed before the time of Solomon. Some were built by King Solomon who was a King greatly loved of Yahweh. This same Solomon had built the Temple of Yahweh which is arguably the greatest structure ever built. Solomon had been given wisdom beyond any other king of the earth. He was also rich beyond comparison.</div> <bR> <div> Tearing down the High Places that Solomon sacrificed upon would be tantamount to America tearing down the Statue of Liberty, to the French tearing down the Eiffel Tower, to the British tearing down the Tower of London, to the Chinese destroying the Great Wall, etc.. These are revered monuments whose antiquity and history makes them all the more adored by the people whose lands they are a part of. For a Jew to tear down a structure built by King Solomon, or some other revered king, was a difficult thing. It would take a heart whose zeal for God held no comparison with a regard for man to finally tear these things down. Judah did know two such kings. One was Hezekiah, and the other was Josiah. These men feared Yahweh more than the opinions of men. They sought obedience above preserving tradition, when the tradition was clearly wrong.</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 18:1-4</div> <div> 1     Now it came about... that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king...</div> <div> 3     And he did right in the sight of [Yahweh], according to all that his father David had done.</div> <div> 4     <I><B>He removed the high places </B></I>and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. <I><B>He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.</B></I></div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> Can you imagine the opposition that Hezekiah must have faced in destroying the bronze serpent that Moses had made. There was no Jewish leader more revered than Moses who led the people out of Egyptian captivity. To actually have kept safely for centuries the bronze serpent that Moses fashioned in the wilderness to deliver the people from the poison of the serpents that were attacking them was a sign of the veneration of this object and the man who made it. Destroying the bronze serpent goes far beyond comparison to any object possessed by man today. It was a greater event than it would be to destroy the painting of the Mona Lisa. It exceeds what it would be to destroy Michelangelo’s statue of David, or to remove the paintings from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Yet Hezekiah did this because he realized that it was leading the people to idolatry and it was an offense to God. </div> <bR> <div> How badly we need some similar hearts today to restore righteousness and holiness to the worship of Yahweh! How badly we need saints whose zeal and love and fear of God exceeds any other aspect of their lives. We find another King who went even farther than Hezekiah in his zeal to be found pleasing to Yahweh. This king was Josiah.</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 23:11-15</div> <div> 11     And [Josiah] did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of [Yahweh], by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.</div> <div> 12     And the altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of [Yahweh], the king broke down; and he smashed them there, and threw their dust into the brook Kidron.</div> <div> 13     And the high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.</div> <div> 14     And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones.</div> <div> 15     Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> This passage in II Kings actually goes into much greater depth in speaking of the exploits of King Josiah and all that he did in returning to his God. There is no king before or after him that was so zealous to choose Yahweh over every other thing, and who was so fervent to thoroughly cleanse the land of every symbol of idolatry. Should we, whose bodies are the temples of the Living God, not be even more zealous in seeking to remove every symbol of idolatry from our own lives? Should we not be careful to remove even those things that have been handed down from generation to generation and which are revered as sacred traditions, though they originated and were devised by men?</div> <bR> <div> The annual celebrations of Christmas and Easter are two such High Places that stand in the midst of the church today. Is it not somewhat telling that even the lost and ungodly members of society will go to a church on Christmas and Easter? The church has falsely assumed that this is a good thing, but in reality it expresses the truth that these are holidays that belong to the lost and pagan members of society and they can find agreement with the body of Christ on these days, for these are two times in the year when the church fully embraces pagan symbols, traditions, and forms of worship. The church has no command or instruction in scripture to remember these days. These holidays were originated in honor of the false gods of ancient societies and later incorporated into the tradition of the church at the leading of man, not the leading of the Holy Spirit.</div> <bR> <div> This is not a difficult thing to substantiate. I did a search on the phrase “the origin of Christmas” on one search engine on the Internet and I was met with over 39,000 sources that delve into Christmas and its origins. Indeed, it is not a lack of evidence that has prevented the church from examining this issue, it has been an unwillingness to respond in obedience when they do find the truth. Because these dates and their associated traditions have been revered and honored for centuries, because so many find delight in the celebrations associated with these dates, because men and women, boys and girls have their hearts knit to the celebrations on these dates, the church has not wanted to examine these issues. These are High Places. These are areas that have remained even when revival and a return to truth have occurred in other areas of life.</div> <bR> <div> I am going to insert a portion of another article that I wrote last Easter that speaks some about the great error of mixing pagan practices with the truths of the Kingdom of God. The article is entitled “The Leavening of the Church”.</div> <bR> <div> As much of the church world is celebrating Easter I feel led of the Spirit to share some things regarding this “holy day” that I cannot shake from my mind. I recently took a job as an instructor teaching computer repair at a local technical college. A number of my students were speaking of going to passion plays and attending Easter sunrise services, and the other things that the church likes to do at this time of year. My reaction to their words was strangely different than it would have been in years past. Let me explain.</div> <bR> <div> There was a time when I was very much a part of the Christian religious system of our day. I always felt like I was in parts of the body that were on the cutting edge of things, enjoying fresh praise and worship, fostering an atmosphere where the gifts of the Spirit were free to be exercised, embracing the prophetic, etc.., but there was still much that was typical of what many have come to call the Christian religious system. We still had a mixture of pagan and Biblical influences. We celebrated the “christianized” pagan holidays of Easter and Christmas. We focused our calendar upon dates and holidays of pagan origin rather than on Yahweh’s appointed feast days. Basically, we conducted ourselves according to our traditions rather than by the leading of the Spirit of Yahweh and the precedence of scripture.</div> <bR> <div> In those days I would have been proud to hear any of the students in college mention a religious holiday, or a church service, or the name of Jesus. I would have felt that they were being bold in freely talking about their Christian experience and I would have been inwardly pleased by it. On this occasion, however, I felt a different emotion within myself. This emotion has resulted because Yahweh has been separating me from much of what has passed for the things of His Kingdom, but which have actually had their origin in the will and mind of man, as well as in the mind of Satan.</div> <bR> <div> As I listened to the students I thought of how sad it was that they so unknowingly mixed that which is holy with that which is profane. I thought of what a corruption the church has become as the leaven of sin and false teaching has thoroughly leavened the body of Christ. As one student lamented that the school didn’t give them an extra day off for Easter, my thought was “I guess the college doesn’t place as high of a value on celebrating pagan festivals as the church does.”</div> <bR> <div> Easter is a holiday that is never mentioned in scriptures as a day that Yahweh said we were to observe. In fact the holiday Easter is never mentioned in scriptures at all, unless you have a King James translation of scriptures, in which case the word Easter appears in Acts 12:4. This word is erroneously translated in the KJV from the word “Pascha” which clearly denotes Passover, not a pagan holiday. Even the New King James version corrected this grievous error of translation and the word is correctly rendered Passover in the NKJV.</div> <div>      </div> <div> The word Easter comes from the Germanic word Eostre, and it is the name of the pagan goddess of fertility. In other cultures this name is rendered as Ishtar, Astarte, and Ashtoreth. The goddess of fertility is venerated in many cultures, both modern and ancient, and typically in the spring there is a festival devoted to this goddess. This goddess would be honored in the spring in hopes that she would be pleased with the attention given to her and that the coming growing and birthing season would be a fruitful one. People would honor the goddess of fertility in hopes that their animals would bear many offspring, that their crops would be bountiful, that their maidens would have many children, etc..</div> <bR> <div> It is because this festival was in honor of the goddess of fertility that there are so many symbols of fertility associated with it to this day. The egg is a symbol of fertility. The bunny rabbit is another well known symbol of fertility, as are hats adorned with flowers, and even the grass that is placed in many Easter baskets. These things have nothing to do with Passover, nor is their any command given in scripture to use any such imagery in conjunction with a remembrance of our Savior’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. These things are strictly pagan in origin and are related to the goddess known to many Europeans as Eostre.</div> <bR> <div> It is well established that many pagan holidays were merged with Christian beliefs and practices when Constantine declared the Roman Empire to be a Christian empire. In order to placate the masses of people who worshiped pagan deities, the leaders of the Catholic Church determined that it was expedient to maintain the same holidays already celebrated by the pagan peoples, but to incorporate symbols and doctrines of Christianity into them. Therefore the spring fertility festival was kept, but it was also declared to be a remembrance of the crucifixion, and resurrection of the Messiah. In the same way the winter festival to the god Saturn, called Saturnalia, and the celebration of the birth of the Sun, Sol Invictus, was recast as a celebration of the birth of the Son of Yahweh.</div> <div>                </div> <div> Today we find an amalgamation of Christian and pagan beliefs and practices during these holidays. Although many churches remember the suffering and resurrection of the Savior at Easter, they also equally mix in pagan elements such as Easter egg hunts, a profusion of flowers or greenery to adorn the sanctuaries they meet in, or even the giving of Easter baskets filled with eggs, chocolate bunnies, and multi-colored grass. Even more telling of the pagan influence is the use of the name Easter to describe these celebrations and remembrances.</div> <bR> <div> In the book of Acts we are told of another goddess that the citizens of the Roman Empire worshiped. This was Diana, who was also called Artemis. Diana was the goddess of wild animals and the hunt. She was also a fertility goddess and she was often depicted with having a multitude of breasts as is seen in statues found in ancient Ephesus where Paul preached. If the church today established a holiday in honor of Diana many saints would be outraged. If we established a holiday and we called it “Diana” and on this holiday we incorporated symbols that were associated with Diana such as a quiver and a bow, or a hunting horn, yet we declared that this would also be a Christian holiday and we would incorporate Christian symbols and doctrines with it, most saints would not be fooled, rather they would be appalled.</div> <bR> <div> Many would say, “No way am I going to allow myself or my family to participate in a celebration to a false god or goddess. No way am I bringing pagan symbols or practices into my church gathering or into my home. No way will I have the name of the goddess Diana venerated in my home.” Yet when the celebration is already established and has been in practice for hundreds of years, there is very little protest at the abomination that is taking place annually. Multitudes of saints speak the name “Easter” (Eostre, Ishtar) with great affection, and they embrace all the symbolism associated with her worship.</div> <bR> <div> One friend of my wife’s called and invited us to bring our children to participate in an Easter egg hunt at their church. Can you see the incongruity of this? Can you see the mixing of the holy and the profane, the things of the Kingdom of Yahweh and the things of pagan idolatry? Is Yahweh pleased with such a mixture?</div> <bR> <div> The church today has basically chosen the manner in which they will worship, honor, and serve Yahweh, with little regard to what He has spoken and declared to be His will. In this regard the church has become like Vashti who is spoken of in the book of Esther. The book of Esther opens with King Ahasuerus giving a great celebration. The King had determined to display the wealth and glory of his kingdom. Towards the end of this display he gave a great banquet that lasted for seven days and he invited the great and the small to participate. There is much symbolism here regarding the seven days and what is now occurring as we enter the seventh day, or seventh millennium, since Adam.</div> <bR> <div> On the seventh day of the banquet we are told that the king summoned his bride to come forth to be displayed before his nobles so that her beauty could be seen. However, an interesting thing is noted just prior to this. We are told in Esther 1:9 that Vashti was giving her own banquet and she was doing it “in the palace which belonged to the king.” In the same way the church today has little regard for what the King of kings is doing. The church is busy with a banquet of their own devising, and they are conducting it in the habitation that belongs to the King, and with the resources that belong to the King.</div> <bR> <div> You may ask, “How is the church doing this?” She is doing this by being led by tradition and by her own will, desires, programs, devices, practices, celebrations, etc., and she is doing all according to her concept of what seems right and acceptable in her own eyes. She is not walking in the fear of Yahweh, nor is she being careful to do only that which He leads her to do.</div> <bR> <div> Could the church really defend having a holiday named after a goddess of fertility, full of symbols of fertility? Can this same church declare that it is the Spirit of Yahweh that has led them to have Easter egg hunts and to mix the holy with the profane? Can the church demonstrate where it is commanded that the birth of the Messiah should be celebrated with decorated trees, colored lights, feasting, exchanging of gifts, and the multitude of practices that ancient peoples engaged in to celebrate their false gods? Would the Elohim who commanded that the Israelites should not even mix two types of fabric together, for this would lead to an unholy mixture (Deuteronomy 22:11), declare that it is His will to mix the worship of a false goddess with the worship of His Son? Consider the following words from Ezekiel.</div> <bR> <div> Ezekiel 22:26</div> <div> Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean... and I am profaned among them.</div> <bR> <div> The saints of Yahshua were never instructed to celebrate pagan holidays. The practice of the early believers was to celebrate Yahweh’s festivals; Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, etc.. We are even told that in the millennial reign to come that the Feast of Tabernacles will be remembered.</div> <bR> <div> Zechariah 14:16-19</div> <div> 16     Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths [Tabernacles].</div> <div> 17     And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, there will be no rain on them.</div> <div> 18     And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which Yahweh smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.</div> <div> 19     This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.</div> <bR> <div> The church, however, has replaced the remembrance of Yahweh’s feasts with pagan holidays that have been “Christianized.” The church is conducting its own banquet according to its own will and desires, and it is doing so with the King’s resources in the King’s house (the temple made of living stones). It is little wonder that the church knows so little about responding in obedience to the King in this hour. They are like Vashti who loved the honor of being wed to the king, but she only obeyed when his desires coincided with her own.</div> <bR> <div> Nowhere in scriptures are we given any indication that it is acceptable to follow Yahweh according to our desire and our methods. He calls for obedience to His expressed will and desire. When two of Aaron’s sons put fire in their censors to offer incense before Yahweh, doing so in violation of the manner and practice Yahweh had given to Moses, they were instantly judged and killed. When David thought to bring the ark into Jerusalem that the presence of Yahweh might be among the people, and even when he built a brand new cart to transport it, and he and all the people were praising and worshiping Yahweh in sincerity and with great love and passion, their failure to act according to Yahweh’s instructions concerning how the ark was to be transported caused His anger to break out among them and to kill Uzzah for his lack of reverence. Even when Ananias and Sapphira were giving a free gift of money to the church, laying it at the apostles’ feet, their failure to do so with integrity caused their deaths. When many of the Corinthian believers were taking Yahshua’s supper in an improper and irreverent manner, the anger of Yahweh burned against them and many were sick and some died because of it (I Corinthians 11:30). When several of the churches mentioned in Revelation failed to pursue Yahshua and walk before Him in a pure devotion, they were warned that they were in danger of being removed from His presence.</div> <bR> <div> Yahweh does care about the manner in which we follow Him. He is concerned that the church has combined the holy and the profane in the celebrations of Christmas and Easter. There is a call going forth in the Spirit in this hour for the children of Yahweh to remove themselves from everything that is false. Revelation 18:4 says, “Come out of her My people lest you participate in her sins and partake of her plagues.” This scripture is speaking of the great harlot who is also called mystery Babylon. Many of the saints of Yahweh have grown up in this system and she has been our mother for some time. Like the Israelites that were born in captivity in Babylon and Assyria, many of us have been born in a land of idolatry and idolatrous practices, but like these same ones there has come a time to come up out of Babylon.</div> <bR> <div> It should be noted that of all the Israelites that were taken captive to Babylon, only a remnant responded to the call to come out of Babylon when the seventy years of captivity were accomplished. The vast majority chose to remain in Babylon for many had grown comfortable there. Many had become prosperous in this land of idolatry and they did not want to leave it. Those who remained ended up sharing in the judgments of this wicked empire when Yahweh poured out His wrath upon it.</div> <bR> <div> The same seems to be occurring today. The Spirit is sending out a message to come out of the harlot church system that has dominated the spiritual landscape of the world. We are told to come out that we would not participate in her sins, and some of these sins are the mixing of pagan and holy items together. It is a failure to distinguish between the holy and the profane.</div> <div> [end excerpt]</div> <bR> <div> The world and the ungodly always seek to mix the holy and the profane together. We read of this occurring in the following passage:</div> <bR> <div> II Kings 17:29-33</div> <div> 29     But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.</div> <div> 30     And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,</div> <div> 31     and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.</div> <div> 32     They also feared [Yahweh] and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.</div> <div> 33     They feared [Yahweh] and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> Is this not the same thing the church does today when it mixes pagan festivals to false gods with the worship of Yahweh? Can Yahweh possibly be pleased that the church has substituted these corrupted holy days for the true feast days that He initiated and in which are divine testimonies that point to Christ? These are truly High Places of Christianity. They are things that are revered and retain a large measure of protection among those who love traditions more than they fear Yahweh.</div> <bR> <div> We have all been in Babylon. For a time we were all sold as slaves to this idolatrous land, but the time to come out is now. History itself reveals the results of failing to heed the call to separate ourselves when it comes.</div> <bR> <div> I am not going to describe all of the origins of the practices of Christmas and Easter here. The information is widely available to anyone who would care to look into the matter. The origins of these days are well documented. It has been my desire to simply address why many choose not to look into these matters, and why many who know the truth refuse to respond to the truth with obedience.</div> <bR> <div> It has only been of late that the Spirit has brought this issue to the forefront of my mind. I do not condemn anyone for participating in these holidays for I once led my own family in these same celebrations. But when the Father gives us light and asks for a response of obedience, we are required to obey. To willingly remain in darkness will only bring forth the judgment due to children walking in disobedience.</div> <bR> <div> May we all have the zeal of King Josiah in seeking to remove all the High Places in our lives that stand as an affront to the holiness of God. May Yahweh have a people who live to do all His pleasure and who refuse to participate in that which is a mixture of the holy and the profane.</div> <bR> <div> May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.</div> <div>                                                        </div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>