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: '''“But the bishops in Asia were led by Polycrates in persisting that it was necessary to keep the custom which had been handed down to them of old. Polycrates himself in a document which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome expounds the tradition which had come to him as follows. ‘Therefore we keep the day undeviatingly, neither adding nor taking away, for in Asia great luminaries sleep, and they will rise on the day of the coming of the Lord, when he shall come with glory from heaven and seek out all the saints. Such were Philip of the twelve apostles … There is also John, who lay on the Lord’s breast … , and there is also Polycarp Smyrna, both bishop and martyr, and Thraseas, both bishop and martyr, from Eumenaea... [Also] Sagaris... Papirius... and Melito... All these kept the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, never swerving, but following according to the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, love according to the tradition of my kinsmen, and some of them have I followed. For seven of my family were | : '''“But the bishops in Asia were led by Polycrates in persisting that it was necessary to keep the custom which had been handed down to them of old. Polycrates himself in a document which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome expounds the tradition which had come to him as follows. ‘Therefore we keep the day undeviatingly, neither adding nor taking away, for in Asia great luminaries sleep, and they will rise on the day of the coming of the Lord, when he shall come with glory from heaven and seek out all the saints. Such were Philip of the twelve apostles … There is also John, who lay on the Lord’s breast … , and there is also Polycarp Smyrna, both bishop and martyr, and Thraseas, both bishop and martyr, from Eumenaea... [Also] Sagaris... Papirius... and Melito... All these kept the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, never swerving, but following according to the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, love according to the tradition of my kinsmen, and some of them have I followed. For seven of my family were [[bishops]] and I am the eighth, and my kinsmen ever kept the day when the people put away the leaven. Therefore, brethren, I who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord and conversed with brethren from every country, and have studied all holy Scripture, am not afraid of threats, for they have said, who were greater than I, 'It is better to obey God rather than men.' ”''' Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History, English translation from the original Greek by Kirsopp Lake, Vol. II, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1926, pp. 505, 507. | ||
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Revision as of 08:27, 22 August 2018
The Feasts of Israel
Were the Feasts of Israel about Faith or Fun or were they a part of a national system of FEMA?
There was a purpose for the feasts. They had a function in the greater community of the people and only filled those needs of society when the people came together for the true purposes of those institutions of God.
- "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:" Deuteronomy 16:16
Most people who think they are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles today have no Living Network of Ministers who are supplying a Daily ministration; no Apostles nor Levites actually providing social services for the people and by the people, nor do they elect and support living stones to become altars of the people.
Some will dress in costumes and mumble Hebrew words or sing familiar hymns so they may imagine that they are righteous. Yet their daily practices are void of the social virtues of those ancient days and their deeds are those of the Nicolaitans and their rulers are Nimrods and Caesars.
Because of their Wantonness and Sloth they have returned to the mire. No outfit nor funny words nor false religious doctrines elaborated by scholars or fools will save them.
Who will Repent and build a network practicing Pure Religion through Faith, Hope and Charity by way of Freewill offerings of the people, for the people and by the people through the Perfect law of liberty in Free Assemblies like both Israel and the Early Church?
Some modern Churches think they are celebrating the feasts as "spiritual feasts" of God's word. Christ was far more practical in his ministry where real loaves and fishes were served, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the sick healed, all without the Benefits offered by Benefactors who exercised authority.
Even the Eucharist of Christ was not just a wafer or "crumb" but an actual meal shared with the people. The early Church services we see in the Bible were actually real service provided by a servant government. But again the function within a Christian community is only fulfilled in society when the true Kingdom of God is written on the hearts and minds of the people.
What poses as Church service today is just about making people feel saved and righteous. Actually seeking the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness is not only ignored but rejected by the believe only philosophy of Modern Christians.
While the Feasts of old like Feast of Tabernacles were a time and place that generated lots of interaction, good times and fond memories among the people who came, both Jew and Gentile alike, to actually Celebrate the Feasts went much deeper and meant a lot more to the society as a whole.
Early Church Festivals
The Bible and other historical records of the apostolic era confirm that the original Christian Church continued to observe the same festivals Jesus observed. The practice of observing these festivals continued into the fourth century. With the new Christianity of Constantine, we see in 325 a debate over the Passover, known as the Quartodeciman controversy. The Anti-Semitic sentiment of these new Constantinian Christians found a minority among real Christians agree to abandon the observance of the Passover at the Council of Nicea[1]. That choice was met with fierce opposition from the people in congregations and early Church leaders vigorously resisted rejecting the example and practice of Jesus and the apostles.
- “But the bishops in Asia were led by Polycrates in persisting that it was necessary to keep the custom which had been handed down to them of old. Polycrates himself in a document which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome expounds the tradition which had come to him as follows. ‘Therefore we keep the day undeviatingly, neither adding nor taking away, for in Asia great luminaries sleep, and they will rise on the day of the coming of the Lord, when he shall come with glory from heaven and seek out all the saints. Such were Philip of the twelve apostles … There is also John, who lay on the Lord’s breast … , and there is also Polycarp Smyrna, both bishop and martyr, and Thraseas, both bishop and martyr, from Eumenaea... [Also] Sagaris... Papirius... and Melito... All these kept the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, never swerving, but following according to the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, love according to the tradition of my kinsmen, and some of them have I followed. For seven of my family were bishops and I am the eighth, and my kinsmen ever kept the day when the people put away the leaven. Therefore, brethren, I who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord and conversed with brethren from every country, and have studied all holy Scripture, am not afraid of threats, for they have said, who were greater than I, 'It is better to obey God rather than men.' ” Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History, English translation from the original Greek by Kirsopp Lake, Vol. II, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1926, pp. 505, 507.
Polycrates would not observe Easter or teach its observance. He had been a contemporary of the disciple John and knew the disciple, Philip. But more important he knew the importance and purpose of the practices of the early assembly of the people. The early assemblies and the early Church were unswerving in their observance of Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread because without it the daily ministration to the free assemblies of the people could not be internationally effective.
The pagan converts of this new Christianity of Constantine who gladly ate at the table of Constantine and the Caesars brought in divisions.
- "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:8
The Greek verb translated “let us keep the feast” is the horatory subjunctive used ‘to urge someone to unite with the speaker in a course of action upon which he has already decided’” [2]
Paul was talking about our "delivery from Satan" who was the adversary. The adversary of the Church was seen in the Christian conflict with Rome as the welfare system of the temples where men who called themselves Benefactors forced the contributions of the people to provide their free bread.
Those who ate at the tables of the pagan temples of the Roman government were the "fornicators of this world" whose practices were those of the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
He tells them "not to keep company" with those people he saw as 'fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat." 1 Corinthians 5:11
The leavened bread was not about the yeast but that which comes with bread provided by those men who called themselves Benefactors but exercise authority one over the other.
The networking that the feast facilitated allowed Paul and Barnabas and other provide aid to support an international daily ministration.
Love Feasts of a Nation
How many people will come to support those minsters of a kingdom that keeps the people from having to turn to the Benefactors who exercise authority one over the other?
How many men, Elders in Congregations which minster to groups oftens will keep Deuteronomy 16:16 "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:"?
Many will come empty except for the meals they will eat at the feast. I can assure you that few will follow Deuteronomy 16:17 "Every man [shall give] as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee."
And who will give so that the ministers can form a FEMA type living network in war or peace to help the people near and far? We know that if you only love those in your family and your local group there is no Grace.
Most of the people who go to feasts] like Tabernacles are not doing anything different than those who celebrate the 4th of July.
- Why do you Celebrate the 4th of July?
- Is there cause to celebrate?
- http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/articles/4thjuly.php
- 4th of July - High Quality Mp3 Audio
- Part 1 Fourth of July Message
- http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/audio/rm/july4thprt1.mp3
- Part 2 Fourth of July Message
- http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/audio/rm/july4thprt2.mp3
US Citizens today are the most dependent people that ever lived on the American Continent but they are celebrating their independence day as if they are free but the truth of their bondage seems to go right over their heads.
That is not what the word Celebrate means when you see it mentioned in Leviticus:
- " And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month." Leviticus 23:41
"
Can any one say they abide by Ezra 3:4 "They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as [it is] written, and [offered] the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;"?
The people of all nations gather for protection against natural and menacing catastrophes. How that protection is provided is dependent upon the hearts of the people. If they have the heart of Cain and Nimrod they will give according to the commands of Nimrod, or Pharaoh or Caesar. These men will call themselves Benefactors, and are the Fathers of the earth, yet they only give what they have taken from others by the power of their exercising authority.
But if the the people have the heart of Christ and John the Baptist they will share out of love and charity in hope according to the Perfect law of liberty. This is what they did in Israel because there was no king to force their contributions as there was when they rejected God and elected to have a ruler in 1 Samuel 8.
In a free nation the head of every house would freely give to the minister. To remain free as a nation they need to choose to give to their public servants to provide for the common Welfare. These two Welfare types, one of force and the other of freedom, define the nature of the nation and the destiny of the people. One is free and the other foolish and will loose its freedom.
We see in Leviticus 23:34:
- "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD. : 35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD."
It took lots of work and funds to train up a servant government and lots of love for one another to motivate that funding without force. Only those who have faith in the ways of God and His righteousness shall be free souls under God. Those who are slothful in these sacrifices will end up under tribute.
They determined the time of the Feasts in a uniform manner based on the lunar calendar not because there was some magical formula but for practical reasons. They needed the light of the full moon which was simply a practical solution to seeing in the dark where there were no flashlights and street lights or LED solar lights by the latrine.
Since there were no cell phones or radio or internet, using the lunar calendar was also a practical way to let all the people know when to meet because everyone could see the moon. These Peculiar people also used other calendars for planting and navigation. People like the Pharisees were constantly unmooring the purpose and the precept from the ritual and focusing on the letter to avoid the true sacrifice and love of God. The feastsserved a national purpose in organizing the people and funding a voluntary government of free people. It was not just a party.
Everything about the Festivals had a purpose which was to facilitate the bonds of society based on charity and love. If the people who think they are "celebrating" or "keeping" the Feast are not donating to a body of servant ministers providing services for the nation of God and at the same time using the feasts to firm up their voluntary connections of the tens hundred and thousands then what are they doing at the Festivals?
There was another connection purpose found in these festivals of charity and hope. Boys and girls met, fell in love and got married. This prevented the inbreeding of small village life but also bound remote areas of the Kingdom of God by natural family bonds.
The Kings and Fathers of the earth did this too with marriage alliances but in Israel, before they rejected God in 1 Samuel 8 and elected a central king to rule over them and be their Benefactors, every man was king in his own house.
That connection of the families of the Kingdom of God from generation to generation was essential to binding the people in time of disaster or catastrophes. The bonds were those of love, not Contracts, Covenants and Constitution.
If people are not going to the festivals for these purposes then they are not really keeping the feasts.
They are "just there for the party..."
So if you want to Celebrate the Feasts you need to find out what the word Celebrate in the Bible means.
- ↑ The Way to the Kingdom' audio. Constantine's Council at Nicea, Baptism without Repentance, Death in the name of Christ, Denominations, Conforming to Christ, Appearance of being godly, What ritual?, What doctrine?, What is the Church? Freedom without control, Altars of clay and stone, Living by the sword, True giving, Why are you afraid?, Congregations of Congregations, Episkopos, The Lowerarchy of the Church, World government, Burnt offerings, Unhewn stones, Sacred purpose trust, What the Church should look like, Anti-Pharisee or Anti-Christ?, Ekklesia, Guidelines of His Holy Church, Conversion, Bound by virtue, Choosing ministers, Empowering without losing power, Unincorporated Association - stay away, Who's the beneficiary?, Feed my sheep, Who else is teaching this?, Christ IS King!
- ↑ Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 464.