BRRRR SUNDAY
It is another very cold Sunday. The temperature didn't even make it to above freezing. We got a powdering of snow, last night. I was afraid we would receive at least as much as we did the first time. I looked out this morning and was glad to see just a blanket of snow. Thank you Lord. The weatherman just said it was about 20 in Claremore with a wind chill of 8, which is the closest big town to us. We are probably about the same temperature. Usually we are pretty close to what Claremore is reading.
We had a very nice Sabbath yesterday. We had about 46 in attendance. The road in front of the church was still very slick. Ken and Karen Riggs came and did some grading on Friday. We are very thankful to them for that. We didn't have services last Sabbath due to the blizzard we had. When I was growing up, I don't remember services ever being cancelled. Now we missed a few times, due to the weather or sickness.
Pastor Ivan was able to be with us again. He has his good and bad days. Friday was one of the bad days. He had already called and informed Brother Larry that he wouldn't be able to make it. He had a sermon in mind, and got to thinking, why couldn't he come and sit in a chair at the front of the sanctuary and face us and preach. It work out fine. We had a very nice sermon. It being the time of the year it is, he brought a sermon on whether or not we should celebrate Christmas. As most of you know, in the doctrine of the church it condemns this celebration. I had written a note on Facebook about this same subject a few weeks back. I plan to include part of that in my blog today. I am also going to note a few things Brother Ivan brought to us. Hope you enjoy and will study it for yourself.
Whose birthday is December 25? It sure wasn't Christ's. The Bible tells us to remember His death. I have never read a scripture that tells us to celebrate his birth. Yes, Christ was born in Bethleham and laid in a manger. That is all true. There were shepherds in the fields, but the sheep were in the folds. Wisemen came (not necessarily 3) to worship the king and brought Him gifts. It was the custom of that time to bring gifts at the birth of a King.
Christmas wasn't celebrated until about 300 years after the birth of Christ. The Catholic Church brought the celebration into their churches to draw more people in. You can look this up in the Catholic Church's history or an encyclopedia. I don't know about the newer sets of encyclopedias, but I do know in older ones, if you look up Christmas and its origins, you just might be surprised.
December 25 is the birth of the wicked King Nimrod. He was so evil, he married his own mother. When he died, she spread the story that a tree came up over his grave. She began having it decorated with silver and gold in memory of him. There is a scripture in Jeremiah 10:4 that talks about cutting a tree out of the forest, hammering it with nails so it cannot move and decorating it with silver and gold. I believe it is talking about the Christmas tree. What does a Christmas tree and decorations have to do with the birth of Christ? Even if you were to want to celebrate Christ's birth, please do it right. No tree, no presents for everyone under the sun, hopeing you get some in return. Give gifts to the needy or the church in Christ's name.
Santa Claus, who was he really? Saint Nickolas was a preist in I think it was Holland, who gave gifts to the poor children. How can all children get gifts from Santa and not have a chimney? Or what about the children whose parents are too poor to get them anything? They feel left out and might think they must have been really bad, since they didn't get any presents. When you teach children to believe in Santa Claus, you are lying to them. Most, I am sure, takes this in stride, but some doesn't. Some are very bitter, when they find out he isn't real. You are also giving Santa the attributes of God. Is this right? I would be very careful about that.
In Elder Burrell's sermon on Sabbath, he brought up a few questions about Christmas or any holiday celebration. He made known the fact, he doesn't believe in celebrating Christ's birth. I agree with him. Christ was born I believe in the fall. If you study this for yourself and see when Mary became with child and when she went and visited her cousin Martha, John the Babptist mother, you will come to the conclusion, Christ was born either late in September or early October. This isn't just a theroy I came up with. It is in the Bible.
One of the questions Brother Ivan asked, "What do we get out of Christmas or any holiday?" Is the birth of Christ a holiday? Should it be? Why do we have a season at Christmas and not at any other holiday? Christmas season is a time for making money. A time for being prosperous. Retailer's in America uses it as a time to make more money. A lot of non-believers celebrate Christmas. Some do not even believe in God, but they celebrate Christmas.
Some who celebrate it just as a time for families to get together and show their love for one another. That should be everyday. Christmas season makes people happy and gives them a good attitude. People are more apt to help the less fortunate at that time of year. Why not do it every so often, not just at Christmas time? Some say it's a time to show our love for Jesus. Shouldn't we do that always, every day?
I pray you will take some of this to heart and study for yourselves. Don't take my word for it. Pray about it and then study. That's one thing my grandpa always taught, Just because he is a preacher and studies the Bible daily, doesn't mean he knows everything or all the truth. He always told us to follow along in our Bibles as he read, so that we could read it for ourselves. He could be wrong or misquote a scripture. He also use to always offer up a hundred dollar bill if someone could show him he was wrong in keeping the Sabbath. No one very took him up on it. He died at the age of 94 in 1996. He would have turned 95 that September. I truly miss my grandpa. After I became a teenager, I did a little bit of traveling with him. I helped some in his tent meetings with the music. I was greatly blessed by this.
We had a very nice Sabbath yesterday. We had about 46 in attendance. The road in front of the church was still very slick. Ken and Karen Riggs came and did some grading on Friday. We are very thankful to them for that. We didn't have services last Sabbath due to the blizzard we had. When I was growing up, I don't remember services ever being cancelled. Now we missed a few times, due to the weather or sickness.
Pastor Ivan was able to be with us again. He has his good and bad days. Friday was one of the bad days. He had already called and informed Brother Larry that he wouldn't be able to make it. He had a sermon in mind, and got to thinking, why couldn't he come and sit in a chair at the front of the sanctuary and face us and preach. It work out fine. We had a very nice sermon. It being the time of the year it is, he brought a sermon on whether or not we should celebrate Christmas. As most of you know, in the doctrine of the church it condemns this celebration. I had written a note on Facebook about this same subject a few weeks back. I plan to include part of that in my blog today. I am also going to note a few things Brother Ivan brought to us. Hope you enjoy and will study it for yourself.
Whose birthday is December 25? It sure wasn't Christ's. The Bible tells us to remember His death. I have never read a scripture that tells us to celebrate his birth. Yes, Christ was born in Bethleham and laid in a manger. That is all true. There were shepherds in the fields, but the sheep were in the folds. Wisemen came (not necessarily 3) to worship the king and brought Him gifts. It was the custom of that time to bring gifts at the birth of a King.
Christmas wasn't celebrated until about 300 years after the birth of Christ. The Catholic Church brought the celebration into their churches to draw more people in. You can look this up in the Catholic Church's history or an encyclopedia. I don't know about the newer sets of encyclopedias, but I do know in older ones, if you look up Christmas and its origins, you just might be surprised.
December 25 is the birth of the wicked King Nimrod. He was so evil, he married his own mother. When he died, she spread the story that a tree came up over his grave. She began having it decorated with silver and gold in memory of him. There is a scripture in Jeremiah 10:4 that talks about cutting a tree out of the forest, hammering it with nails so it cannot move and decorating it with silver and gold. I believe it is talking about the Christmas tree. What does a Christmas tree and decorations have to do with the birth of Christ? Even if you were to want to celebrate Christ's birth, please do it right. No tree, no presents for everyone under the sun, hopeing you get some in return. Give gifts to the needy or the church in Christ's name.
Santa Claus, who was he really? Saint Nickolas was a preist in I think it was Holland, who gave gifts to the poor children. How can all children get gifts from Santa and not have a chimney? Or what about the children whose parents are too poor to get them anything? They feel left out and might think they must have been really bad, since they didn't get any presents. When you teach children to believe in Santa Claus, you are lying to them. Most, I am sure, takes this in stride, but some doesn't. Some are very bitter, when they find out he isn't real. You are also giving Santa the attributes of God. Is this right? I would be very careful about that.
In Elder Burrell's sermon on Sabbath, he brought up a few questions about Christmas or any holiday celebration. He made known the fact, he doesn't believe in celebrating Christ's birth. I agree with him. Christ was born I believe in the fall. If you study this for yourself and see when Mary became with child and when she went and visited her cousin Martha, John the Babptist mother, you will come to the conclusion, Christ was born either late in September or early October. This isn't just a theroy I came up with. It is in the Bible.
One of the questions Brother Ivan asked, "What do we get out of Christmas or any holiday?" Is the birth of Christ a holiday? Should it be? Why do we have a season at Christmas and not at any other holiday? Christmas season is a time for making money. A time for being prosperous. Retailer's in America uses it as a time to make more money. A lot of non-believers celebrate Christmas. Some do not even believe in God, but they celebrate Christmas.
Some who celebrate it just as a time for families to get together and show their love for one another. That should be everyday. Christmas season makes people happy and gives them a good attitude. People are more apt to help the less fortunate at that time of year. Why not do it every so often, not just at Christmas time? Some say it's a time to show our love for Jesus. Shouldn't we do that always, every day?
I pray you will take some of this to heart and study for yourselves. Don't take my word for it. Pray about it and then study. That's one thing my grandpa always taught, Just because he is a preacher and studies the Bible daily, doesn't mean he knows everything or all the truth. He always told us to follow along in our Bibles as he read, so that we could read it for ourselves. He could be wrong or misquote a scripture. He also use to always offer up a hundred dollar bill if someone could show him he was wrong in keeping the Sabbath. No one very took him up on it. He died at the age of 94 in 1996. He would have turned 95 that September. I truly miss my grandpa. After I became a teenager, I did a little bit of traveling with him. I helped some in his tent meetings with the music. I was greatly blessed by this.
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