On Christmas / Sabbath

From: Connie McEntire
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: On Christmas / Sabbath
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998

Dear Eddie,

Well this is my first time writing to you and I wanted to share what
a blessing it has been for me to be a part of your mailing. I have
learned so much in reading all the information that you send out. One thing I did want to mention is what this time of year means to me now compared to what it has meant in the past years. Christmas has definitely changed for me. I am a College student attending a
Biblical College here in Dallas and a very good one too. I took a
class in Old Testament and one of my papers was to be done on
Jeremiah. As I read and studied I read chapter 10 and some
commentaries on that passage. I did not really see it before or had
overlooked it in the past but saw that all these years I has practiced a pagan ritual each year. Being that I believe that Shabbot is to be kept and I do go to a Baptist church on Sundays its hard to break from the traditions of man. I shared with a close friend that for the first time I was not going to celebrate Christmas but Chanukah because of what I had learned of this pagan holiday. She felt I had gone off the deep end and was becoming very legalistic and also asked where in scripture was this festival kept and I was not a Jew.
I told her that indeed that the celebration was kept and also Jesus
even celebrated it. Well anyway to say the least I have been labeled
a "legalist" and also going off the beaten path of true life of Jesus Christ. In My heart I know that I cannot go back to celebrating the traditions of men but to do as the Ruach Hakadesh leads me to do.
My husband really has no feeling on this himself and does not make a big deal out of Christmas. He takes his time in studying on things.
So I feel alone right now in my particular corner of the world outside of what I do read and get in emails is my only support. I
will continue to go to the small church on Sundays and sing the traditional songs of Christmas but I will in my heart I know what is
the truth and pray one day we can break away from the paganistic
beliefs and also be able to share without being called legalistic
what I know to be the truth from the word of G-d.

Shalom
Connie McEntire

From Eddie:

Connie,

Take comfort that the newsgroup and all of God's people around the world whom God has given a heart to embrace their Hebraic heritage are here to encourage you. We have all felt what you are feeling at some point in embracing our Hebraic heritage.

Jesus said that the traditions of men make the Word of God have none effect (Mark 7:13).

Sadly, the traditional Christianity had equated our Jewish heritage with legalism. However, our Messiah Yeshua/Jesus was a JEW
who kept the TORAH !!!!! Was He being "legalistic" ??? Hardly.

Keeping God's commandments sets us free. Breaking God's commandments puts us in bondage. Legalism is man-made rules in the name of God NOT keeping God's commandments. Yeshua/Jesus said that if you love Him, you will KEEP His commandments (John 14:15)

In I John 3:4, it tells us what sin is:

"Whosoever commits sin transgresses the TORAH: for SIN is the
transgression of the TORAH"

As believers in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah, we are supposed to NOT sin. If sin is breaking the TORAH then the way that we keep from sinning is KEEPING the TORAH.

Sadly, traditional Christianity has fulfilled God's words to the
Northern Kingdom of Israel (Christianity is a type of the Northern
Kingdom) in Hosea 8:12 as it is written:

"I have written to him the GREAT things in my TORAH, but they were counted as a strange thing"

God calls His Torah GREAT. So keeping the Biblical Festivals and the Torah is GREAT in the eyes of God.

Be encouraged by what God says to the non-Jew who keeps the sabbath as it is written in Isaiah 56:1-8:

"Thus says the Lord, keep ye judgment and do justice: for my
salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
BLESSED is the man that does this and the son of man that lays hold on it: that KEEPS THE SABBATH from polluting it and keeps his hand from doing any level. Neither let the son of the stranger (non-Jewish believer in Messiah) that has joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord unto the eunuchs (non-Jewish believers in Messiah) that KEEP MY SABBATHS and choose the things that please me (like keeping also the Biblical Festivals), and take hold of my covenant (the sabbath and the Festivals are EVERLASTING ordinances) Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a plane and a NAME BETTER than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an EVERLASTING NAME that shall NOT be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord (non-Jewish believer in Messiah), and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keeps my sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant: even them will I bring to my HOLY MOUNTAIN (that is Mount Zion in Jerusalem... Rev 21:9) and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for ALL PEOPLE. The Lord God which gathers the OUTCASTS OF ISRAEL (that's how you feel now) says Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him."

Rest assured what God's Word says in Isaiah 42:21 is true:

"The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake; he will MAGNIFY the TORAH and make it HONORABLE."

May God continue to bless you in your studies as you embrace your rich Hebraic heritage as a believer in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah.

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l

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