i have been asked a lot lately, mainly because we are entering in the Christmas season, about my faith. Whey i don't celebrate christmas, but i acknowledge Thanksgiving. So, I am going to create 5 blogs: 1 containing christmas, 1 containing easter, 1 on halloween, 1 on thanksgiving (which I do acknowledge) and the final blog will be what i do acknowledge and why, hint: read Leviticus 23. i am also going to change the name of my blog from journey through Torah, to My Faith. Call me a Jew, Messianic, Christian Jew, whatever you want to call me, however; my "religion" is YHVH, I am a Torah Observant Follower of Yeshua Ha'Mashiach. So what does it mean to follow someone? think about it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christmas:
Lets look at
Wikipedia first: a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ
But why December 25? The Bible does not say, it does not specify a date. But then people argue they understand this isn't when He was born, but it is the spirit, the joy of the holidays, giving, etc. Sound familiar? I thought so!
Many people adhere to
what they have been taught all their lives.
They assume their beliefs and practices are correct, so they do not
examine there origin. When people do examine they why they do what they do, why their families have done what they have for centuries, it can be frightening. Changes can be a frightening thing. So, then I say, hear what I have to say. Read your Bibles. PRAY. LISTEN to God, HEAR Him. My prayer to you is to not just read and believe everything I say, but take what i have to share with you, research it for yourself, dig into your scriptures, pray, listen and hear what God has to say to you concerning your walk with Him.
Lets look at the Christmas traditions:
gifts: The tradition of gifts seems to have started with the
gifts that the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus. As recounted in the Bible's book of
Matthew, "On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they
bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with
gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh." The Santa Claus story combined with an amazing retailing
phenomena that has grown since the turn of the century has made gift giving a central
focus of the Christmas tradition.
evergreen: This is a German tradition, started as early as 700AD. In
the 1800's the tradition of a Christmas Tree was widespread in Germany, then moved to
England and then America through Pennsylvanian German immigrants. In Victorian times, people had already started decorating
trees with candies and cakes hung with ribbon. In 1880 Woolworths first sold manufactured
Christmas Tree ornaments, and they caught on very quickly. Martin Luther, in the 16th
century, is credited as being the first person to put candles on a tree, and the first
electrically lighted Christmas tree appeared in 1882. Calvin Coolidge in 1923
ceremoniously lit the first outdoor tree at the White House, starting that long tradition.
Fake snow and tinsel.
holly & mistletoe: Mistletoe has apparently been used as a decoration in
houses for thousands of years and is also associated with many pagan rituals. T
he church forbade the use of mistletoe in
any form, mindful of its idolatrous associations. As a substitute, it suggested holly. The
sharply pointed leaves were to symbolize the thorns in Christ's crown and the red berries
drops of his blood. Holly became a nativity tradition. The Christian ban on mistletoe was
in effect throughout the middle ages. Surprisingly, as late as the 20th century, there
were churches in England that forbade the wearing of mistletoe sprigs and corsages during
services. For Scandinavians, the goddess of love (Frigga) is
strongly associated with mistletoe. This link to romance may be where our tradition of
kissing under mistletoe comes from.
nativity scene: The star, the manger, the swaddling clothes, the
shepherds, the angels, the heavenly host and the wise men all come from the books Matthew
and Luke in the Bible.
yulelog: According to the book "The Dictionary of Word and
Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris, "Yuletide for Christmastime
is a term derived from the yule log, which in olden days was a huge log used as the
foundation of the holiday fires. Bringing the yule log in was, as recently as the
nineteenth century, as much a part of the pre-Christmas festivities as putting up an
evergreen tree today. Yule can be traced back to the Middle English Yollen
(cry aloud) and is thought to date from early Anglo-Saxon revels in celebration of the
discovery (after the Winter Solstice, December 22) that nights were becoming
shorter."
pointsettias: Poinsettias were attached to Christmas starting in 1828.
Joel Roberts Poinsett, then the first mexican ambassador from the United States, imported
the plant from Mexico.
stockings hung: According to a very old tradition, the original Saint
Nicholas left his very first gifts of gold coins in the stockings of three
poor girls who needed the money for their wedding dowries. The girls had hung their
stockings by the fire to dry. Up until lately it was traditional to receive
small items like fruit, nuts and candy in your stocking, but these have been replaced in
the last half-century by more expensive gifts in many homes. A
lump of coal in the stockings of naughty children comes from Italy.
12 days of christmas: The 12 days of Chistmas are the 12 days that separate
Christmas day on December 25 from Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6. Depending on
the church, January 6th may mark Christ's baptism (the Catholic tradition), or it may mark
the day that the wise men visited the baby Jesus with their gifts. In the past there was a tradition of giving gifts
throughout the 12 days, rather than stacking them all up on the morning of December 25.
Xmas: According to the book "Did you ever Wonder..."
by Jeff Rovin, the word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. The use of the shortened form Xmas
became popular in Europe in the 1500's.
I am sure all the things mentioned above sound familiar to why things are done. But, Jesus is not the reason for the season, He did not start the christmas season. It really has nothing to do with him. Unless you look at Jewish way of thinking, that your birthday is your conception and it is believed Jesus was conceived around December 25.
Now, lets look at the Pagan background of Christmas. Here you will see how christmas originated and where these traditions came from.
Saturnalia is a festival held between 17th and 24th December, which began in the days of the Roman Empire. This was a week of feasting, gift giving and an excuse for an orgy during the Northern Hemisphere's winter
solstice. The objective of the debauchery and dancing around was to give the sun a nudge and send a message to Mother Earth to begin
reproducing for the spring.
colors red & green: The traditional colors of red and green
represent the fertility of the male and incubation by the female.
Pagan decorations still seen around Christmas include the red berries
and green leaves of holly, mistletoe and wreaths. Yule festivities are a mixture of customs and beliefs going back thousands of years.
Celebrating the winter solstice was forbidden by the early church, but
customs survived anyway and it didn't take much to tempt Christians to
join in the solstice feast in honor of the Pagan god Mithra. So the
church provided an alternative with a festival in honor of the birth of
Christ and celebrations were definitely in order.
In the 2nd century, the winter solstice was 6th January and
Christians celebrated both the birth and the appearance of God's Son on
that day, Epiphany Day.
By the 4th century, the date for the winter solstice was moved to
25th December and Pope Julius I declared that Jesus' birthday
celebrations would also be on that day. (The appearance of Jesus to the
Magi continued to be celebrated on 6th January.) This effectively
transformed the Pagan occasion into a Christian holy day (holiday).
This was not, however, merely a convenient way to 'Christianize' a Pagan
celebration. There is no historical evidence to prove what date Jesus
was born on or even the year. The important thing for Christians is to celebrate
the birth of Jesus because that showed God's love for us. It doesn't
really matter a hoot when the birth is celebrated; the important thing
is to celebrate it. So since the 'why' is much more important than the
'when', 25th December has been good enough for Christians ever since. Celebrating his birth, celebrating His love for us is great! But leave the Pagan traditions out of it. Scripture abolishes it! (i will get to scriptures in a moment)
santa: A tough old Pagan god named Odin
was imagined as a paunchy white-bearded old man in a long cloak. A
mixture of the characterizations of both St. Nicholas and Odin is
thought to result in Father Christmas. When we are young children, we are told about Santa's existence.
Later, when we're about seven years old we find
out that he's really just a fictional character. And then we learn that,
OK, he doesn't exist now, but he used to. Childhood can be very
confusing. Even though St. Nicholas is our inspiration for creating Santa Claus, the St. Nicolas Cross is
not known as Santa's Cross. The closest we might find to a Santa Cross is in a story from Japan; a story that is as mythical as Santa himself.
Take another moment to think about reason you believe. Why do you follow the customs you do? Or, where did these customs/traditions come
from? We have grown- up in a world full
of traditions and we accept these
traditions without question.
Here is what the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has
to say about Christmas:
Christmas
was not among the earliest festivals of the church..." It was not
instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority. It was picked up
afterward from paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says:
"Christmas...It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the
first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was
to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth..."
(The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible
authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.) "...A feast was
established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the FOURTH CENTURY. In
the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever ON THE
DAY OF THE OLD ROMAN FEAST OF THE BIRTH OF SOL, as no certain knowledge of the
day of Christ's birth existed."
Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number. Christians were persecuted by the government
and pagans. As Constantine as emperor
and making Christianity his profession, placing Christianity on an equal
footing with paganism would bring the Romans to accept Christianity.
These people, however, have grown up in pagan customs. December 25th was a festival of
merrymaking. They enjoyed so much, they
did not want to give that up. Now,
using Christianity, the pagan –festival date of December 25th,
celebrated the birth of the sun god, so this was changed to the birth of the
son of god. We got Christmas from the
Roman Catholics, they got it from paganism, where did these traditions
originate, Babylon.
Mistletoe was used at the festival of the winter solstice. It was considered sacred to the sun. It is supposed to have miraculous healing
power. The pagan tradition is to kiss
under the mistletoe was a step of revelry and debauchery—celebrating the death
of the old sun and the birth of the new at the winter solstice.
Holly berries are considered sacred to the sun god. The Yule log is the “sun log”. Yule means wheel, the pagan symbol of the
sun.
Lighting the Yule log and candles
as a Christian ceremony is continuation of the pagan custom which encourages
the waning sun god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies. The encyclopedia even states that the
holly, Yule log and mistletoe are pre-Christian times.
Santa Clause comes from St. Nicholas.
He is a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th
century. St. Nicholas was a bishop of
Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks and Latin’s on the 6th of
December.
I am breaking up and scattering my information on purpose, so there isn't so much to take in at once. There is a lot to take in. I encourage everyone to look at the origins of traditions, holidays. Traditions are great! As long as GOD is always first. If a tradition goes against, is opposite of what our scriptures teach us, then we should take another look at our traditions and reasons and life! I am also using Adonai, YHVH, YHWH, God and so forth. These are all names of God.
Now, lets go to scripture:
1.Hear the word ADONAI
speaks to you, house of Isra'el!
2.Here is what ADONAI
says: "Don't learn the way of the Goyim, don't be frightened by
astrological signs, even if the Goyim are afraid of them;
3.for the customs of the
peoples are nothing. They cut down a tree in the forest; a craftsman works it
with his axe;
4.they deck it with
silver and gold. They fix it with hammer and nails, so that it won't move.
5.Like a scarecrow in a
cucumber patch, it cannot speak. It has to be carried, because it cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of it it can do nothing bad; likewise it is unable to do
anything good!"
6.There is no one like
you, ADONAI! You are great, and your name is great and mighty.
7.Who would not fear
you, king of the nations? For it is your due! - since among all the wise of the
nations and among all their royalty, there is no one like you.
8.One and all they are
boorish and stupid; the teaching of their nothings is a piece of wood!
9.Silver is beaten into
plates, then imported from Tarshish. Gold from Ufaz is worked by a craftsman
and shaped by the hands of a goldsmith. They are clothed in blue and purple,
all the work of skillful men.
10.But ADONAI, God, is
the true God, the living God, the everlasting king. At his anger, the earth
trembles; the nations cannot endure his fury.
11."This is what you
must say to them: 'The gods that did not make heaven and earth will perish from
earth and from under heaven.'"
12.God made the earth by
his power, established the world by his wisdom spread out the sky by his
understanding.
13.When he thunders, the
waters in heaven roar, he raises clouds from the ends of the earth, he makes
the lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind out from his storehouses.
14.At this, everyone is
proved stupid, ignorant, every goldsmith put to shame by his idol! The figures
he casts are a fraud; there is no breath in them;
15.they are nothings,
ridiculous objects; when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.
16.Ya'akov's portion is
not like these, for he is the one who formed all things. Isra'el is the tribe
he claims as his heritage; ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name.
17.You who are living
under the siege, gather your belongings off the ground,
18.for here is what
ADONAI says: "At this time I am slinging away the inhabitants of the land;
I will distress them, so that they will feel it."
19.Woe to me because of
my wound! My injury is incurable! I used to say, "It's only an illness,
and I can bear it."
20.But now my tent is
ruined, all its cords are severed; my children have left me and are no more;
there is no one to set up my tent again, no one to raise its curtains.
21.The shepherds have
become stupid, they have not consulted ADONAI. This is why they have not
prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
22.Listen! A noise! It's
coming closer! A great uproar from the land to the north, to make the cities of
Y'hudah desolate, a place for jackals to live.
23.ADONAI, I know that
the way of humans is not in their control, humans are not able to direct their
steps as they walk.
24.ADONAI, correct me,
but in moderation, not in your anger, or you'll reduce me to nothing.
25.Pour out your anger on
the nations that do not acknowledge you, also on the families that do not call
on your name. For they have consumed Ya'akov - consumed him and finished him
off, and laid waste to his home.
Looking up the word “Christmas”, we find it means “Mass of
Christ”. This became in the fourth
century to the Roman Catholic Church from paganism. In fact, Christmas was not a festival of the
early church. Scriptures only mentions
7 feasts we are to keep, Christmas or even ones birthday is not celebrated in
the bible. The people mentioned
celebrated the day they were born were people who did not follow Adonai. So, why would Adonai tell us when Yeshua was
actually born and have us celebrate it?
1 ADONAI said to
Moshe,
2 "Tell the
people of Isra'el: 'The designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as
holy convocations are my designated times.
3 "'Work is to
be done on six days; but the seventh day is a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy
convocation; you are not to do any kind of work; it is a Shabbat for ADONAI,
even in your homes.
4 "'These are
the designated times of ADONAI, the holy convocations you are to proclaim at
their designated times.
5 "'In the first
month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete
darkness, comes Pesach for ADONAI.
6 On the fifteenth
day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat
matzah.
7 On the first day
you are to have a holy convocation; don't do any kind of ordinary work.
8 Bring an offering
made by fire to ADONAI for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy
convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.'"
9 ADONAI said to
Moshe,
10 "Tell the
people of Isra'el, 'After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its
ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the
cohen.
11 He is to wave the
sheaf before ADONAI, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on
the day after the Shabbat.
12 On the day that
you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without defect, in its first
year, as a burnt offering for ADONAI.
13 Its grain offering
is to be one gallon of fine flour mixed with olive oil, an offering made by
fire to ADONAI as a fragrant aroma; its drink offering is to be of wine, one
quart.
14 You are not to eat
bread, dried grain or fresh grain until the day you bring the offering for your
God; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter
where you live.
15 "'From the
day after the day of rest -that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving
-you are to count seven full weeks,
16 until the day
after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to
present a new grain offering to ADONAI.
17 You must bring
bread from your homes for waving-two loaves made with one gallon of fine flour,
baked with leaven -as firstfruits for ADONAI.
18 Along with the
bread, present seven lambs without defect one year old, one young bull and two
rams; these will be a burnt offering for ADONAI, with their grain and drink
offerings, an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI.
19 Offer one male
goat as a sin offering and two male lambs one year old as a sacrifice of peace
offerings.
20 The cohen will
wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before ADONAI,
with the two lambs; these will be holy for ADONAI for the cohen.
21 On the same day,
you are to call a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; this
is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you
live.
22 "'When you
harvest the ripe crops produced in your land, don't harvest all the way to the
corners of your field, and don't gather the ears of grain left by the
harvesters; leave them for the poor and the foreigner; I am ADONAI your
God.'"
23 ADONAI said to
Moshe,
24 "Tell the
people of Isra'el, 'In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for
you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with
blasts on the shofar.
25 Do not do any kind
of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI.'"
26 ADONAI said to
Moshe,
27 "The tenth
day of this seventh month is Yom-Kippur; you are to have a holy convocation,
you are to deny yourselves, and you are to bring an offering made by fire to
ADONAI.
28 You are not to do
any kind of work on that day, because it is Yom-Kippur, to make atonement for
you before ADONAI your God.
29 Anyone who does
not deny himself on that day is to be cut off from his people;
30 and anyone who
does any kind of work on that day, I will destroy from among his people.
31 You are not to do
any kind of work; it is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no
matter where you live.
32 It will be for you
a Shabbat of complete rest, and you are to deny yourselves; you are to rest on
your Shabbat from evening the ninth day of the month until the following
evening."
33 ADONAI said to
Moshe,
34 "Tell the
people of Isra'el, 'On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of
Sukkot for seven days to ADONAI.
35 On the first day
there is to be a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.
36 For seven days you
are to bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI; on the eighth day you are to
have a holy convocation and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI ; it is a
day of public assembly; do not do any kind of ordinary work.
37 "'These are
the designated times of ADONAI that you are to proclaim as holy convocations
and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI -a burnt offering, a grain
offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, each on its own day –
38 besides the
Shabbats of ADONAI, your gifts, all your vows and all your voluntary offerings
that you give to ADONAI.
39 "'But on the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the
land, you are to observe the festival of ADONAI seven days; the first day is to
be a complete rest and the eighth day is to be a complete rest.
40 On the first day
you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows,
and celebrate in the presence of ADONAI your God for seven days.
41 You are to observe
it as a feast to ADONAI seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation,
generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month.
42 You are to live in
sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Isra'el is to live in a sukkah,
43 so that generation
after generation of you will know that I made the people of Isra'el live in
sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am ADONAI your
God.'"
44 Thus Moshe
announced to the people of Isra'el the designated times of ADONAI.
Luke 2:
1.Around this time,
Emperor Augustus issued an order for a census to be taken throughout the
Empire.
2.This registration, the first of its kind, took place when
Quirinius was governing in Syria.
3.Everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
4.So Yosef, because he was a descendant of David, went up from the
town of Natzeret in the Galil to the town of David, called Beit-Lechem, in
Y'hudah,
5.to be registered, with Miryam, to whom he was engaged, and who
was pregnant.
6.While they were there, the time came for her to give birth;
7.and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in
cloth and laid him down in a feeding trough, because there was no space for
them in the living-quarters.
8.In the countryside nearby were some shepherds spending the night
in the fields, guarding their flocks,
9.when an angel of ADONAI appeared to them, and the Sh'khinah of
ADONAI shone around them. They were terrified;
10.but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, because I am
here announcing to you Good News that will bring great joy to all the people.
11.This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a
Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord.
12.Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth
and lying in a feeding trough."
13.Suddenly, along with the angel was a vast army from heaven
praising God:
14."In the highest heaven, glory to God! And on earth, peace
among people of good will!"
15.No sooner had the angels left them and gone back into heaven
than the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go over to Beit-Lechem and
see this thing that has happened, that ADONAI has told us about."
16.Hurrying off, they came and found Miryam and Yosef, and the baby
lying in the feeding trough.
17.Upon seeing this, they made known what they had been told about
this child;
18.and al who heard were amazed by what the shepherds said to them.
19.Miryam treasured all these things and kept mulling them over in
her heart.
20.Meanwhile, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God
for everything they had heard and seen; it had been just as they had been told.
21.On the eighth day, when it was time for his b'rit-milah, he was
given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his
conception.
22.When the time came for their purification according to the Torah
of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to ADONAI
23.(as it is written in the Torah of ADONAI, "Every firstborn
male is to be consecrated to ADONAI")
24.and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young
pigeons,h as required by the Torah of ADONAI.
25.There was in Yerushalayim a man named Shim`on. This man was a
tzaddik, he was devout, he waited eagerly for God to comfort Isra'el, and the
Ruach HaKodesh was upon him.
26.It had been revealed to him by the Ruach HaKodesh that he would
not die before he had seen the Messiah of ADONAI.
27.Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when
the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required,
28.Shim`on took him in his arms, made a b'rakhah to God, and said,
29."Now, ADONAI, according to your word, your servant is at
peace as you let him go;
30.for I have seen with my own eyes your yeshu`ah,
31.which you prepared in the presence of all peoples --
32.a light that will bring revelation to the Goyim and glory to
your people Isra'el."
33.Yeshua's father and mother were marvelling at the things Shim`on
was saying about him.
34.Shim`on blessed them and said to the child's mother, Miryam,
"This child will cause many in Isra'el to fall and to rise, he will become
a sign whom people will speak against;
35.moreover, a sword will pierce your own heart too. All this will
happen in order to reveal many people's inmost thoughts."
36.There was also a prophet named Hannah Bat-P'nu'el, of the tribe
of Asher. She was a very old woman -- she had lived with her husband seven
years after her marriage
37.and had remained a widow ever since; now she was eighty-four.
She never left the Temple grounds but worshipped there night and day, fasting
and praying.
38.She came by at that moment and began thanking God and speaking
about the child to everyone who was waiting for Yerushalayim to be liberated.
39.When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by
the Torah of ADONAI, they returned to the Galil, to their town Natzeret.
40.The child grew and became strong and filled with wisdom -- God's
favor was upon him.
41.Every year Yeshua's parents went to Yerushalayim for the
festival of Pesach.
42.When he was twelve years old, they went up for the festival, as
custom required.
43.But after the festival was over, when his parents returned,
Yeshua remained in Yerushalayim. They didn't realize this;
44.supposing that he was somewhere in the caravan, they spent a
whole day on the road before they began searching for him among their relatives
and friends.
45.Failing to find him, they returned to Yerushalayim to look for
him.
46.On the third day they found him -- he was sitting in the Temple
court among the rabbis, not only listening to them but questioning what they
said;
47.and everyone who heard him was astonished at his insight and his
responses.
48.When his parents saw him, they were shocked; and his mother said
to him, "Son! Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been
terribly worried looking for you!"
49.He said to them, "Why did you have to look for me? Didn't
you know that I had to be concerning myself with my Father's affairs?"
50.But they didn't understand what he meant.
51.So he went with them to Natzeret and was obedient to them. But
his mother stored up all these things in her heart.
52.And Yeshua grew both in wisdom and in stature, gaining favor
both with other people and with God.
In Song of Solomon and Ezra, it states winters were rainy,
not allowing shepherds to abide in open fields at night. Any encyclopedia will state Yeshua was not
born on December 25. Even the Catholic
Encyclopedia states this fact. I
strongly believe Yeshua was born the beginning of Sukkot, circumcised the last
day, the eighth day. We celebrate
Chanukah as the time Yeshua was conceived.
Take a look at the
Catholic Encyclopedia
and
Catholic.org
This is not everything, just some highlights because I want you to do some of your own research. Please post comments and questions to this post for all to see and for me to answer to the best of my ability. Please remember to pray about the information I have given you and the information you are about to look up. I will add to this post as I feel necessary.
Shalom B'Yeshua HaMashiah (Peace in Jesus the Messiah)
Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem)--Psalm 122
