Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The Christmas Story

What is wrong with The Christmas Story?

When I was growing up, every December people would talk about The Christmas Story.  By The Christmas Story, they meant the story of the birth of the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) found in the Book of Truth (The Bible).

What they called "The Christmas Story", came from the Book of Truth, and generally went something like this:

Mary (Mariam) was visited by the angel Gabriel in Nazareth, who announced that she would be the mother of the Man of Truth (Luke 1:26-33).  The angel then explained to Mary, that she would have a son, even though she was a virgin, because the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) would overshadow her (Luke 1:34-35).

When Joseph (Yousef) learned that Mary, his wife to be, was pregnant, he was troubled and thought to break off their engagement (Matthew 1:18-19).  Then an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, who told him, that Mary was pregnant by the power of the Spirit of Truth, so he was to marry her, and what to name her son (Matthew 1:20-21).  So Joseph did as he was instructed (Matthew 1:24-25).

Then Joseph was forced to take Mary with him to Bethlehem to be taxed (Luke 2:1-5).  While they were there, Mary gave birth to the Man of Truth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:6-7).

Then a multitude of angels appeared to shepherds, who were watching over their flocks by night, and told them to go to Bethlehem, where they would find the Man of Truth lying in a manger (Luke 2:8-14).  So the shepherds arrived at the manger (Luke 2:15-16).

After that, wise men came to King Herod in Jerusalem, asking where they could find the King of the Jews, whose star they had seen arise in the east (Matthew 2:1-2).  So King Herod told the wise men, that the King of the Jews was born in Bethlehem, and ask them to tell him exactly where the King of the Jews was, when they found the baby (Matthew 2:3-8).  So the wise men followed the star, until they found the Man of Truth (Matthew 2:9-10).  Then the wise men gave the Man of Truth gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11).  Finally, the wise men went home, without telling King Herod, where they had found the Man of Truth (Matthew 2:12).

Afterwards, an angel appeared to Joseph, and told him to flee to Egypt, because King Herod intended to kill the Man of Truth (Matthew 2:13).  So Joseph, Mary, and the Man of Truth, fled by night to Egypt, and waited for it to be safe to return to Israel (Matthew 2:14-15).

When King Herod realized, that the wise men were not coming back to tell him where the King of the Jews was at, he ordered, that all of the babies in Bethlehem to be killed (Matthew 2:16).

After King Herod died, Joseph, Mary, and the Man of Truth returned to Nazareth (Matthew 2:19-23).

While The Christmas story is true, there are some problems with it.

The first problem is calling it, "The Christmas Story".  The Book of Truth tells us enough information to know when the Man of Truth was born, and it is months away from December 25th.  The story of the birth of the Man of Truth really has nothing to do with Christmas.  Christmas came from the same place as Ash Wednesday.

This is one of the reasons, that "The Mensch who killed Christmas", did so.  In like manner, all of the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) should be cleaning up the Christmas mess, that has came from stealing a holiday from the Pagans, and then relabeling it.  They should be escaping the Christmas Trap, that enslaves so many of them with debt.  They certainly should not be invoking the Satan Clause, to justify lying to their children each Christmas season.

The second problem is that "The Christmas Story", does not really tell the full story of the birth of the Man of Truth in a completely accurate manner.  While it does tell about events that really happened, it does not give the context of those events.  It also can lead to a misleading picture of when these events occurred, leading people to come to wrong conclusions, like the shepherds and the wise men all being at the manger together.

So the problem is not, that "The Christmas Story" is not telling the truth, but that it is not telling the whole truth.  The problem is not with what is included, but with what is left out.  Everything looks different, after you hear the full story.

So here is the rest of the story:

The rest of the story focuses on the right of the Man of Truth to be the King of the Jews.

The full story tells the genealogy of Miriam, the mother of the Man of Truth, showing that she came from the kings of Judah, who came from David (Matthew 1:1-16).

(The Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew are themselves translations of the original Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, because Hebrew was part of the language of the Renewed Covenant.  The Hebrew Gospel of Matthew says, "Joseph the father of Mary".  This agrees with the next verse, which plainly says that there were fourteen generations from the carrying away to Babylon to the Man of Truth (Matthew 1:17).  Fourteen generations can only be counted by including both Mary and her father in the count.  Also the genealogy of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who came from a different son of David, who was not part of the line of the kings of Judah (Luke 3:23-38).  Joseph, the husband of Mary, could not have had two different fathers, who came from two different sons of David.  So the Joseph in the genealogy given in the Gospel of Matthew, is plainly not the husband of Mary, but her father, as it says in plain Hebrew in the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew.)

The full story tells, that Joseph was also a the descendant of David, the second king of Israel (Matthew 1:20).  Joseph belonged to the house of David (Luke 1:27).  Joseph was of the linage of David (Luke 2:4).

The full story tells, that the Man of Truth was the promised king from the house of David, to rule over Israel forever (Luke 1:31-33).  The Man of Truth came from the house of David, to redeem and save the people of Israel (Luke 1:67-69).  The Man of Truth was born in the city of David, to be the Messiah of Israel (Luke 2:10-11).

The full story tells, that the wise men came to worship the rightful King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2).  The usurper on the throne of the King of the Jews was troubled, by the news of the birth of the rightful King of the Jews (Matthew 2:3).

The rest of the story focuses on the fulfillment of the words of the Jewish Prophets of Truth.

The full story tells, that the Man of Truth was born to a virgin to fulfill the words of Isaiah (Yeshayahu) (Matthew 1:23-24). The Man of Truth was born in Bethlehem to fulfill the words of Micah (Mikayahu) (Matthew 2:4-6).  The Man of Truth was taken to Egypt to fulfill the words of Hosea (Hoshea) (Matthew 2:14-15).  Herod the king tried to kill the Man of Truth, by killing all of the babies from Bethlehem to Rama, to fulfill the words of Jeremiah (Yerimayahu) (Matthew 2:16-18).  The Man of Truth was taken to Nazareth to raised to fulfill the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah (Zechariyah) (Matthew 2:23). (The Man of Truth was called the Branch by The Prophets, which is source of the Greek word translated as "Nazarene".)

The full story tells, that the Man of Truth was born, to bring about all that the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) had promised to the Jewish people through the Prophets of Truth (Luke 1:70-79).

The rest of the story focuses on the Levitical priests, who interceded for the Jews, the Temple where the Jews worshiped, and the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses (Moshe) to give to the Jewish people.

The full story tells, that Joseph had intended to give Mary a certificate of divorce, as commanded in the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) (Matthew 1:19).

The full story tells of an old priest named Zacharias (Zechariyah) and his wife Elisabeth (Elisheba), who did everything in accordance to the Law of Truth, but had no children (Luke 1:5-7).  This old priest went to carry out his duty, by burning the incense in the Holy Place in the Temple, when he encountered an an angel there (Luke 1:8-12).  The angel Gabriel told this old priest, that he was going to have a son named John (Yochanon), who would be a Nazarite, as defined in the Law of Truth (Luke 1:13-15).  This all happened to the old priest, while he was in the Temple (Luke 1:21).

The full story tells, that the son of Zacharias was circumcised on the eighth day of his life, as commanded in the Law of Truth (Luke 1:59).  In like manner, the Man of Truth was circumcised on the eighth day of his life, as commanded in the Law of Truth (Luke 2:21)

The full story tells, that Joseph and Mary waited the number of days of her purification (six weeks) after having a son, before they brought the Man of Truth into the Temple, as commanded in the Law of Truth (Luke 2:22).  Joseph and Mary then dedicated the Man of Truth to the Father of Truth, by offering the sacrifice commanded in the Law of Truth (Luke 2:22-24).

The full story tells, that the Spirit of Truth lead Simeon (Sh'mon), a devout Jewish man, to the Temple to see the Messiah of Israel, when Joseph and Mary were there to dedicate the Man of Truth, as commanded in the Law of Truth (Luke 2:25-27).  Simeon then declared in the Temple, that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel, who would fulfill the words of Isaiah, by bringing glory to the Jewish people, and enlightenment to the Gentiles (Luke 2:28-32).  Finally, Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary in the Temple, and told them, that the Man of Truth bring division among the Jewish people, and be rejected by most of the Jewish people, to reveal which Jews truly loved the Father of Truth (Luke 2:33-35).

The full story tells, that Anna (Hannah) the Prophetess of Truth, who had lived in the Temple as a widow for eighty-four years, told all who came there, that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel (Luke 2:36-38).

The full story tells, that the son of Zacharias grew up to be a good Jewish boy, who lived in obedience to the Law of Truth, until it was time for him to carry out his mission (Luke 1:80).  Likewise, Joseph and Mary raised the Man of Truth to be a good Jewish boy, who lived in obedience to the Law of Truth, until it was time for him to carry out his mission (Luke 2:39-52).

The rest of the story focuses on the miraculous signs given to the Jewish people.

The full story tells, that the angel Gabriel said, that the son of Zacharias the old priest would turn the Jewish people back to the Father of Truth, by foreshadowing what Malachi (Malaki), the Prophet of Truth, had said, that Elias (Eliyahu) would do in the last days, to prepare the Jewish people for the Messiah of Israel (Luke 1:16-17).  When the old priest asked the angel for a sign that this would happen, the angel Gabriel made the priest unable to speak, until his son was born (Luke 1:18-20).  When the old priest finally came out of the Temple, he could not speak to those who waited outside (Luke 1:21-22).  Then the old priest went home, and his wife Elisabeth became pregnant, as the angel had said (Luke 1:23-25).  

The full story tells, that this same angel Gabriel told Mary, that Elisabeth was pregnant, to show that the Father of Truth could do anything, and Mary believed what the angel said, about her having the Man of Truth, while still being a virgin (Luke 1:36-38).  So Mary went to visit Elisabeth and Zacharias at their home in the land of Judah (Luke 1:39-40).  As soon as Mary said hello to Elisabeth, the baby in her womb leaped as a sign, that everything told to Mary would come to pass (Luke 1:41-45).  Then Mary spoke out joyfully, that this was a sign, that the the Father of Truth was going to use the Man of Truth, to bring about everything, which He had promised concerning the Jewish people (Luke 1:46-55).  Three months later, Mary went home (Luke 1:56).

The full story tells, that when Elisabeth gave birth to their son, Zacharias began to speak as soon as he named his son John, as the angel had commanded (Luke 1:57-64).  Everyone knew that this was a sign, that his son would do all that the angel Gabriel had said (Luke 1:65-66).  Then Zacharias said that it was a sign, that the Messiah of Israel was about to bring about everything, which the Father of Truth, had promised concerning the Jewish people (Luke 1:67-69).

The full story tells, that the shepherds were told by the angel, that the sign to identify the promised Messiah of Israel, who had been born in Bethlehem, was that he would be wrapped in swaddling clothes (strips of grave cloth), and lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12).  After the shepherds saw the sign fulfilled, then they went and told everyone, that the promised Messiah of Israel had been born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:16-20).

The full story tells, that the Man of Truth himself would be a sign, that most of Israel did not love the Father of Truth, when they pierced the heart of Mary, his mother, by killing him (Luke 2:34-35).

So the full story is not just The Christmas Story, about a cute baby born in a manger, surrounded by shepherds, and visited by wise men bearing gifts.  It is the story of the Father of Truth sending the Man of Truth, to born to a Jewish woman, who did everything according to the Law of Truth, at the time when all of the conditions spoken of by the Prophets of Truth, had became a reality (Galatians 4:4).  It's a Jewish thing about the long awaited arrival of the Messiah of Israel.

The full story of the circumstances surrounding the birth of the Man of Truth, is not the most important story in the Gospels.  The most important story is the one, which tells of how the Man of Truth went on to suffer, die, and rise again, in fulfillment of the Law of Truth, and the words of the Prophets of Truth, concerning the Messiah of Israel (Luke 24:25-27).  Anyone who makes the Man of Truth their king, because they believe that story, will come into the House of Truth (Romans 10:9).

Come into the House of Truth!















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