Month: January 2009

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

FAQ: I have heard a number of people say that Jesus Christ was not born on December 25, the date that Christians celebrate as his birthday. Is that true? If not, why do people celebrate on that date, and when was he born?

“Merry Christmas!” Centuries old, those cheery words are still being spoken each December by countless millions of people, some of whom do not even believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God or the resurrected Lord. As we write, the world is once again approaching “the Holiday Season,” when the name of Jesus Christ takes center stage for a few weeks. Amidst the often crass commercialism of Christmas, familiar carols and Christmas cards do herald the glad tidings of the babe born to be the Savior of mankind. And, in perhaps unwitting concurrence with our heavenly Father’s unparalleled act of giving His only begotten Son, even non-Christian families gather together in love and give gifts to one another. For many people, “Christmas” is their favorite time of year.

We in Spirit & Truth Fellowship are glad that the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is recognized on the calendar each year. However, much of the beauty of the events leading up to and including the birth of Jesus as told in the Word of God has been obscured by the religious traditions of men. In this brief answer to the above question, we hope to whet your appetite to look deeper into these magnificent truths, including the poignant and inspiring examples of those players in this real life drama that forever changed the world.

You can get a panoramic yet detailed scriptural account in the two hour video teaching titled, The Birth of Christ, by John Schoenheit. For specific astronomical documentation of the birth date of Christ, see the book titled The Star That Astonished the World, by Ernest L. Martin. We believe that when all the evidence is considered, it shows that Jesus Christ was not born in December, but in September of 3 B.C.

Think for a moment about the significance of a birthday, say, your birthday. Since the dawn of time, what happened on the day you were born had never happened before, and will never happen again. You, the only you who will ever draw breath, came into existence, with a “clean slate” set before you on which to write the story of your absolutely unique life. And so it is for every human being ever born, including the man whose sinless life earned him his current position of “Lord” at the right hand of God, His Father.

Knowing that Jesus was His only hope for the restoration of His shattered dream of a family living forever on a perfect earth, God, the Father, announced the impending birth of His only begotten Son in Genesis 3:15. He told the Devil that the “offspring” of a woman would one day crush his head. For the next 4000 years God precisely and meticulously worked to establish and preserve the bloodline from which the Redeemer of man would be born. Throughout the Old Testament, Satan tried in vain to destroy this bloodline, sometimes coming within a hairsbreadth of succeeding, but God was always one step ahead of him, and at last, the cries of a newborn babe in a manger split the air in Bethlehem. The Promised Seed had arrived! The Plan of Redemption was proceeding toward Paradise regained.

Why was Jesus crying?

(a) He was freezing.
(b) He felt sorry for the shivering sheep.
(c) He was too young to spend the gold brought by one of the three wise men.
(d) Santa Claus had gotten stuck in the manger chimney.
(e) He was a baby.

Biblically speaking, the answer is (e). Babies cry. The other answer choices point to the traditions of men that have made their way into the beautiful account of the birth of the Savior of the world. Tradition would have us believe that Jesus was born on December 25, when it is very cold, and sometimes snowy, in Bethlehem. The truth is that Jesus was born in September. Tradition would have us believe that there were three wise men, and that they came to the manger. The truth is that there were quite a number of those who came from the East, and that they came to see Jesus when he was between 18 and 24 months old.

In this brief article, we cannot fully set forth the many pertinent biblical details, but we will give you the important facts, and we encourage you to pursue this via the avenues of study mentioned above. It is important to note that the actual chronology of events regarding the birth of Christ must be put together from what is recorded in Matthew and Luke (with some overlapping in time), as follows: Luke 1:5-25; 1:26-38; 1:39-56; 1:57-80; Matthew 1:18-24; 1:25a; Luke 2:1-20; Matt. 1:25b; Luke 2:21; 2:22-24; 2:25-35; 2:36-38; Matthew 2:1-12; 2:13-22; 2:23; Luke 2:39; 2:40; 2:41-50; 2:51 and 52.

No, we are not advocating a worldwide campaign to change the celebration we know as “Christmas” from December 25 to September 11 which has already become a most significant date here in the USA. But we ourselves do at least pause on that latter date to thank God for His Son and to thank the Lord for living and dying for us. Nor are we suggesting that you take it upon yourself to re-arrange the manger scene in your town square by kidnapping the three wise men. And we do not believe it is a sin to have a Christmas tree, 200,000 lights on your house, stockings hung by the chimney with care, etc., because no verse of Scripture says that. Just don’t worship the tree.

But how sad it is that so many people on earth associate the birth of Jesus Christ with a fictitious being called “Santa Claus,” who has come to be known as the Giver of good gifts. As we rudely learn at an early age, there is no Santa Claus. But there most certainly is a loving heavenly Father whose heart of love for all mankind overflowed in the greatest gift ever given, His only begotten Son. Furthermore, God’s Word says that “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…will…along with him, graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8:32). The Christmas season is a golden opportunity to do just what those shepherds of long ago did—spread the word about Jesus Christ. Now that’s something to rejoice about! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Read the full article here.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page.

Thank you for visiting and God bless.