Kingdom Business

With an everlasting love, God loves you. He sent Jesus to die for you, to redeem you from eternal torment and spiritual death. The devil, our enemy, on the other hand, cares nothing about you. Because you are a child of the King, he hates you and wants to destroy you, if he can’t get you to turn on God (cf. John 10:10). Satan is only our enemy by association; his opponent is God the Father. Because he can’t be the Big Boss, large and in charge, then he goes after everything and everyone connected to God. This feud is like that of the Hatfields and McCoys; they’ve been feuding so long it’s been passed down through generations. Like the Arabs and Jews, this fight has been perpetuated for centuries.

In the case of God vs. satan, this on-going feud involves us, mankind. Satan knows he cannot win, he knows he cannot overthrow God, but he goes after that God loves most, His people, His creation. If satan can get us to turn against God, then he finds a way to hurt God. It is His will that none should perish but if we willfully follow after that which God has forbidden, denied, and forsaken, the we become doomed to the same fate. In this manner, satan scores his victory. You know it hurts to have your own turn against you. Imagine that…your daughter, your son, your spouse, your mother, your father, etc. It is an describable hurt that stays with you.

Now satan paints a pretty picture. He entices people with all sorts of things: fame, fortune, prestige, power, influence, etc. and people fall for it all the time. He is the ruler, spiritual authority, and principality of the air. He can make things difficult for you, but God has all power in His hand and God is the final authority. What the enemy meant for your bad, God can and will turn around for your good. Now on the flip side, since he is all those things, he can make things good for you, but it comes with a cost. You can enter into an alliance, an allegiance with the devil here on earth and have it good, but the sacrifice is your eternal soul which will be condemned to hell with satan and his followers. We know that hell was not made for man but for satan and the fallen angels (cf. Matthew 25:41). What God offers is so much better, His rewards are for the here and now and extend into eternity.

Get it in your head, the enemy does not like you and he doesn’t play fair. He is not going to give you a break, he’s only devising his next plan of attack against you. He goes away for a season to recoup from his whoopin’ but then he comes back with a vengeance. Understand he has demons assigned to you or your region. Satan can’t be in more than one place at a time; he is not omnipresent like God, he is not omniscient nor omnipotent like God. You only come up on his radar when God makes a fuss about you. This comes about in one of three ways: when souls are saved, there’s advancement of the Kingdom, and God personally points you out.

See when someone gives their life to Christ, the Bible tells us the angels rejoice in heaven. Now you know that is no quiet fanfare. If you are on a mission to advance the Kingdom of God, then you re-claim territory held by satan. His minions have to come back and report that to him and he wants to know who is taking the hill, taking back territory. Then there are those times when God just plain ole point you out to satan like He did Job. When God points you out to the devil, He is trying you. He wants to see if you will hold up under the fire or will you take down and give in. Many have endured great hardships and many have taken down for a lot less. God knows what’s in your heart, but do you? The trying and testing of your profession of faith shows you where you are.

Spiritual warfare is good for you. It may not be fun to go through or endure but it builds you up in the Spirit and teaches you to stand on God’s Word, if that is the route you take. The battle rages on and the question is being asked, “Who’s side are you on?” You have to fight to win but God has already assured the victory!

Oh I love to tell the story of how my Savior came from glory to save a wretch like me. True love is demonstrated by His unfailing love for me, the fact that He died and rose again!
Now with everything you know there are multiple sides of the story. I like to study the history behind the things we do in the name of holiness and especially when there are mixed traditions. Sometimes we mix things together that has no business being there; like Easter, Passover and Easter bunnies.
Glory and honor goes to the Messiah, Jesus Christ the Lord, who came and died for mankind that we might live and have life, and that life more abundantly. He suffered the penalty and humility of crucifixion and bore the sins of the world so that our sentence of eternal, spiritual death would be forgiven. I’m reminded of a song that says, “He didn’t have to die, He could’ve called angels to His side to carry Him away, but He decided to stay…at Calvary. Thank you for Calvary!” Did you get that? JESUS CHRIST DIED SO THAT YOU AND I MIGHT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! He was “hung on display,” crucified, buried, and of His own accord, rose on the third day leading captivity captive and possessing the keys to death and hell. Then He ascended into heaven to sit on the right hand of God, thereby making intercession for you and me.
It was necessary for Jesus to die for mankind because we were condemned to death with the fall of Adam. Biblical law required a sacrifice to atone for sins and the sacrifice required had to be perfect, spotless, without blemish. For fallen, sinful mankind, Jesus was the only one who could satisfy the requirements. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us.
Of course, the age-old battle rages on. Our adversary walks around seeking those whom he may devour, stopping at nothing to accomplish this goal. His tricks and tactics have not changed. He still takes that which is holy and counterfeits it by suggesting it to some self-righteous “holy” man who then implements it into religious services dedicated to the Most High God. Many fall for this, some out of ignorance, some because of self-indulgence, and some because they just don’t know any better and they truly believe the lie. Thank God however, He always reserve a few, a remnant, who will not bow and who will at all costs, preserve the truth. God’s people should not be deceived by the father of lies or the lie he spins. We have the Holy Spirit within us who leads and guides us into all truth and knowledge. Because God loves us, He will not allow us to be led astray. His sheep hear His voice, know Him, are known of Him and follow Him. It’s when we allow ourselves to be caught off guard and distracted when we are so easily led astray by vulnerability. Faithful study of God’s word will keep us in line, especially when what we hear as God’s honest truth comes over the pulpit.
The enemy is very subtle and cunning. If we are not steadily in our word, it becomes so easy for us to be deceived. Many things that are passed down from generations gone by have become accepted without question. The traditions of Easter are just one of them. Christians in the world today observe Easter in many ways. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of mankind, has become very much diluted with pagan rituals. In fact, the term “Easter” is not even a Christian term but of Chaldean origin, it is one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven. The people of Nineveh pronounced Ishtar identical to the way we pronounce Easter today in this country. Ishtar is a name identified with the goddess Astarte, who was worshipped not only as the incarnation of the Spirit of God but also as the mother of mankind. Very early, along with the Druids -the priests of the groves- worship of Astarte was introduced into Britain.
In the third or forth centuries, the festival from Church history in which we now call Easter, was observed quite differently in the Roman Church and was not even celebrated under the name Easter. At that time, the festival called Pasch, or the Passover, was observed by many professing Christians in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ. That festival originally fell around the same time as the Jewish Passover and was in no way idolatrous nor did it precede Lent. The question must then be asked, “Where then did this observance come from?” “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, ‘in the spring year,’ is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans… Such a Lent of forty days was observed in Egypt… The Egyptian Lent of forty days, was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god.”1 Thus we see the practice of Lent has a long, pagan history, which was adopted, doctored up, and passed on to the Church.
To the Pagans, Lent was an indispensable preliminary to the great festival held annually in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz. This festival was observed considerably later than the Christian festival. In Palestine and Assyria it was observed in June, in Egypt about mid May, and in Britain, it was observed some time in April. To resolve the differences of the Pagans and Christians, Rome took measures to merge the two festivals. By a complicated, but skillful manipulation of the calendar, it proved no difficult task to get Christianity and Paganism to shake hands. “This change of the calendar in regard to Easter was attended with momentous consequences. It brought into the Church the grossest corruption and the rankest superstition in connection with the abstinence of Lent. Let any one only read the atrocities that were commemorated during the ‘sacred fast’ or Pagan Lent,… and surely he must blush for the Christianity of those who, with the full knowledge of all these abominations, ‘went down to Egypt for help’ to stir up the languid devotion of the degenerate Church, and who could find no more excellent way to ‘revive’ it, than by borrowing from so polluted a source…”2
Christians do not need to borrow or acquire anything from the world. All that we ever need is found in Christ. Yet repeatedly, Satan has his pawns in strategic places willing and ready to do his bidding. At times, we are so caught up in the tradition that we forget about the reason behind the season. We are familiar with the traditions that have ended up being celebrated by Christians all over; Christmas with Santa Claus, and Halloween, for example. Many Christians do not buy into the commercialized versions of these holidays; however, there are some churches that wholeheartedly embrace them; from displaying Christmas trees, acting out the events of Christ’s birth followed by Santa Clause bringing gifts to the children, to hosting Easter egg hunts with the Easter bunny. Many just do not understand the consequences of the subtle deception that has been downplayed throughout the years. If a Christian becomes desensitized to the paganistic roots, then little by little the truth can be attacked and chipped away until the only thing left is the deception itself.
God will not allow this to happen! He raises people up to be unwavering voices that are needed in a society gone corrupt and led astray by their own deceitful lusts. This time of year, parents are going broke trying to buy the biggest Easter baskets for their children, and trying to buy up all the eggs in the store to dye them, hide them, and then have their children find them.
“In ancient times eggs were used in the religious rites of the Egyptians and the Greeks, and were hung up for mystic purposes in their temples.”3 The Babylonian classic poets tell of a fable about a great mystic egg. Bear with me as I relay this story and then we will see the significance of the egg.
“An egg of enormous size was said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fish rolled it to the bank where the doves” (keep in mind that a dove is symbolic of the Holy Spirit) “settled upon it and caused it to hatch. Venus (later called the “Syrian Goddess” – that is Astarte or Easter) thus emerged from the egg. The egg then became the symbol of the goddess.”
Now the hidden meaning in this is, the mystic egg served a twofold purpose in that not only did it carry to earth Astarte, the “Queen of Heaven,” but it also gave reference to the ark during the time of the flood. It is believed, by some, that the whole human race was shut up in the egg. How mankind fell for such an atrocity came through more clever trickery and manipulation. See, the sacred egg of Paganism is known as the “mundane” egg, the egg in which the world was shut up in. “World” has two distinct meanings– the material earth, or the inhabitants of the earth. Other civilizations had their own version of this story as well and to preserve the sacredness of the egg and carry it over into Christianity, it took an act of the Romish Church. They adopted the mystic egg of Astarte and consecrated it as a symbol of Christ’s resurrection. Where’s the connection, I don’t get it, but they made it fit with a form of a prayer that was connected to it. Pope Paul V taught his superstitious votaries to pray in this manner at Easter,
“Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance unto thy servants, eating it in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Huh? What does the Bible say on this matter? Nothing, it is absolutely silent because an egg was not the subject at hand. Yet the egg is sacred to some and even used in temple rituals as a symbol of blessing and fertility.
Fertility? Temple prostitutes performed ritualistic practices in the temple as worship to the egg. Colored eggs were set upon the altars as sexually perverted, licentious acts were performed to the queen of heaven. The Easter bunny I guess was just thrown in there for diffusion. It still served the same purpose because rabbits are known to be fertile animals, yet they are soft and cuddly and not as offensive as worship to a goddess.
Easter baskets filled with goodies were symbolic of baskets of “buns” which were sacrificed to the gods. In reference to this, Jeremiah addressed a play on words. A certain type of sacred bread offered to the gods was called Boun and was made of fine flour and honey. Jeremiah knew these types of sacrifices were taking place when he said in Jeremiah 7:18, “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven.” It was going on then and it is still going on today, in a watered down kind’ve way. Those who practice this, the Easter festivities of dying eggs, egg hunts and Easter baskets, probably do not know what they are really doing. It could be out of ignorance but if the Greater One lives on the inside of you, surely He would let you know something is not quite right with that picture. Perhaps you weren’t paying attention when the Teacher was teaching. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth if you are open to receive it. Once you know the truth, perhaps you will feel convicted enough to gladly give up the tradition. Children will not die if they do not get Easter baskets and they won’t go into cardiac arrest if they do not dye eggs to hide and seek; but some parents act like they will. However, children will be destroyed following in this tradition and never knowing the truth because the Bible tells us that we are “destroyed for lack of knowledge,” Hosea 4:6. Our children only know what we teach them. That is why the Bible says to “train up a child in the way that he should go,” for when he gets older, he will not depart from the way of truth.
Let’s not continue to desensitize ourselves or our children. Understand the subtleness behind the deception and let us turn from our wicked ways.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying!”