Tag: Jesus

13-48 It’s Christmastime! Dating, Origins, History, and Biblical Accounts

13-48 It’s Christmastime! Dating, Origins, History, and Biblical Accounts

Show 13-48 Summary: Christmastime is that time of year when you run into the Christmas downers who try to convince you “real Christians” shouldn’t celebrate Christmas because it has “pagan origins.” You doubtless see them popping up on social media and among your circle of friends. And they will arrogantly scoff at anyone who doesn’t echo their dismissive Christmas attitude. The modern-day Christmas downer is a lot like the downer Puritans before them: if they don’t approve it, then it’s just not Christian. For much of American history, the Puritans and other protestant offshoots banned Christmas celebrations — especially merrymaking. This week, find out why you shouldn’t let them steal your Christmas joy. We talk with Pastor Richard Peil about the origins and history of Christmas celebrations, its potential dating, and some exciting insights into the two Biblical accounts of the Nativity story.

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Original Air Dates: December 2nd & 3rd, 2023 | Guest: Pastor Richard Peil

This Week – It’s Christmastime!

For most people, Christmastime is a joyous time. Filled with traditions, family, joy, and memories and nostalgia about Christmases past. But not for everyone. Some are committed to being the Christmas downer. Why? Because they’ve gotten it in their head that Christmas has pagan origins. That it was originally a pagan holiday that the early Church co-opted Saturnalia. Or other pagan holidays. So they spend what should be a joyous time of year dragging others down and, Grinch-like, attempting to steal others’ joy and Christmas spirit.

Don’t let them.

And when they’re not pushing the Saturnalia angle, they’ll point out similarities between the Mithra religion. Yes, there are alleged similarities. But you know who’s the greatest imitator of God and what is holy? Satan. (Funny how they forget that.) They’ll say we don’t know when Jesus was born. And that’s largely true. And they’ll also say whenever he was born it was not on December 25th, in 1 A.D. Yes, that’s possible. After all, if your focus is to pick a day that something didn’t happen, you’ve got a 364 out 365 chance of being right.

Calendars and the Dating of Christmas Day

Over the millennia, calendars and dates have been tweaked and revised and reordered to an extent that it’s hard to say which day might have been the true Christmas Day. And it’s a moving date. At one time, most scholars thought Jesus was born in 4 B.C. based largely on Josephus. But better information came to light, including a better dating for the eclipse Josephus mentioned. And, drawing on other historical sources, it’s now reliably likely that Jesus was born in  2 B.C.

But which day of the year?

Well, here’s the thing: no one knows. But it’s not the date that’s important – it’s what happened that’s important. Regardless of the day of the year. That the war against Satan had started and his time holding power over this world was coming to an end. And, as with any life, it’s not “just” that you’re born but what you do with that life. The date it started doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things.

Origins of Christmas

We welcome back Pastor Richard Peil who leads Victory Baptist Church in Bend, Oregon, to talk about Christmas, its early church origins and beliefs. In the early days of Christianity, which had many Jewish converts and followed Jewish heritage, most people did not celebrate birthdays at all. Instead, they celebrated the day when someone died. Which is rather odd from our modern standpoint. But tune in to hear other traditions and about two competing theories of why the early church thought Jesus was conceived on March 25th. And therefore must have been born on December 25th.

We also talk about Christmas time celebrations during America’s early days. Or not. Because in some colonies and states, not only was Christmas definitely not celebrated but was even banned from being celebrated.

And then we talk about the two Nativity stories in the Bible, from Matthew and Luke. Which tell the story of Jesus’s birth from two different viewpoints. And intended for two different audiences. Why does Matthew focus on the arrival of the Magi and Luke ignores it? Why does Luke focus on John the Baptist and the shepherds? And why does Matthew ignore those?

Watch the fascinating “Star of Bethlehem” 2007 documentary by Rick Larson
Try this link if you have Amazon Prime Video

Speaking of Magi, you’ll hear what some sources think their arrival was really like. And with some historical context, you’ll never think of the “Three Wise Men” the same ever again.

Christmastime Traditions and Today

Then we wrap up with some important discussions of Christmas in today’s day and age. Should Christians even celebrate? If so, why? What do non-believers need to see and to hear during Christmastime? And the same for Christians? What traditions does Pastor Peil’s family and church family celebrate and are important to them?

So when you run into the Christmas downer, spewing their Christmastime hate, remind them the date is not important. The Joy of Christmas is found in what happened that day, not the day on which it happened.

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Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info

Pastor Peil’s church is Victory Baptist Church. Their website is victoryforyou.church

The Problems Dating of Christmas

  • From Chuck Missler: When Was Jesus Born? (Koinonia House, Dec 1, 2020)
    • “We know that the flocks were in an open field (Luke 2:8). That means it was not after October, because it would have been too cold.”
    • 24 priestly courses
  • Jewish Calendar, 3BC and 2BC
  • Origins of April Fools Day (History.com)
    • “April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. …In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.”
  • Roman calendar (via Fandom)
  • The Essenes Calendar (Bible Prophecy Information, via Rev210.net)
    • The Essenes (who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls) kept the traditional Jewish solar calendar, not the Pharisees’ lunar calendar
    • See our previous show with Dr. Ken Johnson for a fascinating look at the Essenes — the ancient Jewish sect, including their calendar-based prophecies of Jesus’s arrival and completion of his mission as The Messiah.
  • The First Recorded Celebration of Christmas (Christianity Today, Oct 23, 2020)
    • “In an old list of Roman bishops, compiled in A.D. 354 these words appear for A.D. 336: ‘25 Dec.: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae.’ Or, ‘December 25th, Christ born in Bethlehem, Judea.’ This… is the first recorded celebration of Christmas.”
  • Historians beware! Interesting discussion on Julian/Gregorian Calendars (University of Nottingham)
    • The Julian Calendar was the system of dating followed from 46BC onwards. It established a 365-¼ year. Except it was 11 minutes too long.
    • In 1582, the Gregorian calendar corrected the over-correction by eliminating ten days and adjusting leap years. But took nearly 400 years to be universally adopted!

The Magi, Other Christmastime

  • History of the Magi (Chuck Missler, December 1, 2021)
  • The fascinating “Star of Bethlehem” 2007 documentary by Rick Larson
  • The Origins of our Christmas Traditions (KHouse.org, Seasonal Favorites, Dec 2004)
    • “The first recorded mention of December 25th is in the Calendar of Philocalus (A.D. 354).”
  • The History of Christmas: Is It Pagan? (Koinonia House, Dec 13, 2011)
    • “Tertullian (AD 160-220), the early Church writer, noticed that the pagan religion [of Mithra] utilized baptism as well as bread and wine consecrated by priests. He considered Mithraism to have been inspired by the devil, who wanted to mock Christians and lead others to hell.”
  • John 1:14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The Greek word there for “dwelt” is  σκηνόω (pronounced, “skay-NAH-oh”) which means to tent or to encamp; which is why some translations use “tabernacled among us” instead of “dwelt among us.” See this link to Strong’s Concordance for more on σκηνόω.
  • What the Bible says about Feast of Tabernacles (BibleTools.org, No Date)
    • Required 189 animal sacrifices be made at the Feast of Tabernacles alone—more than all the other holy days combined.
  • Early Christmas (Britannica.com)
    • “During the first two centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition to recognizing birthdays of martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus.”
  • The Christmas Story – Part 2 – Chuck Missler (Koinonia House, YouTube Channel, Dec 25, 2019)

 

 

Light and Dark: Christmas and… Impeachment?

Light and Dark: Christmas and… Impeachment?

Show Summary: Well, we tried to have a show about Christmas and the start of Advent but then Nancy Pelosi stepped to the mic. Why are Democrats so desperate to push a flailing impeachment? It’s like they’re worried about something. What could it be?

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Original Air Dates: Dec. 7 & 8, 2019 | Dallas Jenkins & James Hirsen

This Week:  The nonsense of listening to non-witnesses who try to testify about what they didn’t hear, but were sure that what they didn’t hear was something that someone thought, continues.

We tried to take a break from that nonsense by recognizing the start of Advent—and at least we get halfway there. The first half our show, we welcome back Dallas Jenkins.

The Light Side: The Chosen

Mr. Jenkins is the director and producer for an incredible series The Chosen, the largest crowd-funded media project ever. Everyday people helped launch this incredible project to be a part of creating a series depicting Jesus and the everyday people He chose to be a part of his earthly ministry.

Download the free The Chosen app to watch all eight episodes for free! And help share it to people all around the globe. Available from iTunes or Google Play store.

We talk with Mr. Jenkins to get more insight into the series, which just launched episodes 5–8, his perceptions on the stories he chose for the series, and the new and exciting ways to watch and share it with people all around the globe. It’s a truly remarkable way to share Jesus’ message and life, right before Christmas.

The Dark Side: Impeachment

Impeachment: Democrats try to steal the presidency
Impeachment: Democrats try to steal the presidency

Then, dark side. We’d planned to talk Christmas, movies, pop-culture and a little politics with our next guest, James Hirsen. But then just hours before our interview, Nancy Pelosi took to the mic and announced that—despite Wednesday’s disastrous hearings with the highly partisan testimonies from the Democrats’ “constitutional experts”—the Democrats were lurching forward to draft articles of impeachment.

So, instead of talking Christmas we tap into James Hirsen wearing his attorney hat, and his recent articles of why the Democrats really should not want the impeachment to head to the Senate.  Mr. Hirsen walks us through his analysis of how they’re moving forward in spite of the reality of no evidence.

And don’t miss his discussion on how President Trump’s almost off-hand inquiry about Ukraine having the Crowd Strike server may have been what really set off the latest impeachment attempt and why.  Where is the server and why hasn’t it been turned over? Or destroyed like so many other pieces of hardware that had evidence on the Democrats?

Democrats in power are probably a little nervous about that.

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Links Mentioned

Jesus in the Passover: the Symbolism Jews Overlook in the Seder Meal

Jesus in the Passover: the Symbolism Jews Overlook in the Seder Meal

Show Summary: An interview with Dan Sered of Jews for Jesus on the symbolism of Jesus—yes, Jesus—in that most holy of Jewish feasts: Passover. Tune in! Your next Communion won’t be the same.

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Five Different Times, on Seven Different Stations. Listen anywhere! All stations stream live!

Saturdays
10a – 11a: KFIR 720AM (entire Willamette Valley) | Direct Link to KFIR Live Stream
11a – noon: KLBM 1450AM (Union County) | Direct Link to KLBM Live Stream
11a – noon: KBKR 1490AM (Baker County) | Direct Link to SuperTalk Live Stream
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Air Dates: Apr 20 & 21, 2019 | Dan Sered

This Week: Despite no shortage of political news this week, we are taking a break from it all to celebrate Easter.  But this week, Friday at sundown, was also Passover. Did you know that the symbolism within Passover’s sacred meal, the Seder Feast, point to Jesus as the Messiah? Our guest thinks so. We’re pleased to welcome for the first time to our show Dan Sered, COO of Jews for Jesus on the symbolism of Jesus in the Passover. 

Passover Meal: The Origins of Communion

As Christians, we all know about Communion. It’s a meal many Christians celebrate monthly or even weekly. But how much do you really know about Passover, which is the origin for Communion?

As the name implies, Jews for Jesus is an organization of Jews who believe that Jesus was and is the Messiah. We invite Dan on to walk us through the Passover meal, how it’s celebrated and the many deep traditions within the highly structured and ordered Seder meal.

For thousands of years, Jews embraced the prophecies of the Old Testament that would reveal the Messiah. But as you’ll hear, so much of the Passover meal itself—this most sacred meal so central to Judaism—actually symbolize and point to the very Messiah they’ve rejected. Jesus. You’ll also hear the struggle many Jews go through when (as other Jews see it) they “leave” the faith.

Symbolism of Jesus in the Passover

Join us to hear the traditions and symbolism of this sacred meal. We reflect on the symbolism, its ties to Christianity, and how the routine and order taken throughout Passover represent God has laid out a plan and process for our life and salvation.

Your next Communion won’t be the same. 

As we start this very holiest of celebrations, we wish you all a very wonderful Easter weekend!

Podcast Version

Links Mentioned on Jesus in the Passover

Related Info

  • Seed of Abraham (seedofabraham.net)
  • Descendants of Lost Tribe of Manasseh return to Israel (Jerusalem Journal, Feb 24, 2017) *“In Israel, there are more than three thousand members of the tribe of Manasseh who have returned over the years. This year they will be joined by another 700.”
  • Shavei Israel – https://shavei.org
  • “Lost Tribe” of Manasseh Returns to Israel (The Berean Call, Oct. 2007): “Ezekiel 36 and 37 declares that Judah and Israel shall be joined as one in the regathering. This is true today. Ezekiel’s famed vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones is unquestionably the monumental Biblical fulfillment of the 20th century.”
  • For fun: Doesn’t Egyptian Chronology Prove the Bible is Unreliable? Via Answers in Genesis).