Can Christians celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost?

Halloween: why should we never celebrate it?

Halloween is an annual holiday on the 31st October. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain (an Irish festival) which is a harvest festival. Because the animals and plants were dying during that period of the year, the people decided to celebrate the dead, so that their animals and their plants would not die. Celebrating Halloween allowed the dead to reach beyond the veil that separated them from the land of the living, animals were slaughtered and cast into the flames. 

The Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks during Halloween, was an attempt to copy the spirits or placate them. In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked faces or veiled faces, dressed in white. They hollowed-out and carved faces to make lanterns, which were also used to ward off or repel harmful spirits. The activities practiced during Halloween are: The trick-or –treating, wearing costumes and attending parties, carving Jack-O’-Lantern, ghost tours visiting haunted attractions. 

The Celts believed, that the border between this world of the living and the world of the dead, became thin on Samhain, which is Halloween, allowing spirits: both harmful and harmless spirits, to pass through. The common practice was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink. 

We will not expand much on that, but let us now see what the word of God says about Halloween and its activities.

1.1 The trick-or-treating

The trick-or-treating which involves giving food (candies, chocolates, sweeties, fruits, cakes, etc) and drinks (juice, lemonade, etc) were to practice divination. By giving that food or drink to the children who impersonate those spirits by wearing those masks or costumes, you are asking the spirit or those spirits of the dead to divine for you. To tell you what the next year harvest will be, how your business will grow, how your marriage will be next year, etc?

In the bible we have the examples of Saul in 1Samuel 28:7-19, who was the King of Israel. Samuel had died and Saul had nobody to tell him the will of God concerning his life, or what would happen to him in the battle he was about to face. So, he consulted a medium to divine for him, and called the spirit of Samuel, who was dead, to come and talk to him about the outcome of the battle. It cost Saul his life, he died because of that. 

The bible tells us: Saul died for his sin which he committed against Jehovah, against the Word of Jehovah, which he did not keep, and also for seeking a medium, to inquire, and did not inquire of Jehovah. And He killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse (1Chronicles 10:13-14). We should only inquire of the Lord, not of dead people, even if they were used by God like Samuel. 

The Lord says to all of us: There shall not be found among you, anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, an observer of clouds, or a fortune-teller, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one who calls to the dead. For all that do these things, are an abomination to Jehovah. And because of these abominations Jehovah your God drives them out from before you (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). And you shall be holy to Me. For I, Jehovah, am holy, and have severed you from the nations, so that you should be Mine. A man also or woman that has a medium, or that is a necromancer, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones. Their blood is on them (Leviticus 20:26-27). 

So, calling the dead to come into your world, is necromancy and a necromancer shall be put to death. Saul lost his life because of that. Many Christians go to the graveyards and talk to their loved ones who are dead; it is necromancy, it is against the word of God. Saul went to see a medium that she might divine for him, and it cost him his life. So do not give food or drinks to the children who come trick-or-treating, because they come with the spirit of divination of whatever demon or dead person’s costume they are wearing.

1.2 No idolatry: masks, costumes

The bible says in Deuteronomy 4;15-18: Therefore take good heed to yourselves, for you saw no kind of likeness on the day Jehovah spoke to you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make yourselves a graven image, the likeness of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish in the waters beneath the earth; and lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, lest you should be driven to worship them and serve them, which Jehovah your God has allotted to all nations under all the heavens. 

We are not to be making masks of any demon or dead person, and certainly not wearing them, even the masks of the faces of some “celebrities” that they are selling in most of the stores now. The reason why they call those celebrities “star” or idols (“American idols”) is because they have become idols in the hearts of people, and people literally worship them, and want to be like them, to dress like them to talk like them. 

The bible says: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them are like them, everyone who trusts in them (Psalm 135:15-18). So basically, whatever idols you have in your nation, watch your heart that you do not worship them, for even movie stars and musicians and athletes, footballers, if they become an idol in your heart you will talk like them dress like them see like them, if they have adulterous eyes, you will have the same. You will be like the idol you worship. The demons that are behind that idol, will be in you as well, and since there is no life in those idols but death, that will also be ruling in your life. 

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; they have noses, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; they have feet, but they do not walk; they do not mutter through their throat. The ones who make them are like them, and everyone who trusts in them (Psalm 115:4-8). God made us in His own image and after his own likeness, if we put on Christ Jesus and we worship God, we will be like our God (Genesis 1:26; Romans 13:14). Do not put on a mask of a person or a spirit or a beast, or any animal, you will be like that beast, like those demons that are behind that mask. Put on Christ Jesus! Also, the image of Jesus that many people have in their house, is not Jesus but a demon! The statue of Jesus on the cross, or in the hands on his mother, or the baby Jesus is an idol that is a demon.

1.3 The spiritual implications are dangerous

In the book of Acts 16:16-18 it is written: we went to prayer, it happened that a certain girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by divining. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God, who are announcing to us the way of salvation. And she did this many days. But being distressed, and turning to the demonic spirit, Paul said, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out in that hour. 

 Paul tells us that that spirit of divination is a demonic spirit, and Paul cast it out of that girl. So why is it that we are giving food and drink to that demonic spirit of divination, that comes trick-or-treating at our door, we should cast it out in the name of Jesus, like Paul did. Do not invite any demonic spirit of divination into your house by giving them food or drink. You shall not eat anything with the blood. You shall not divine, nor conjure spirits (Leviticus 19:26). 

Paul tells us: Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (1Corinthians 3:16)? God dwells in your body, His Holy Ghost dwells in you, do not invite another ghost or spirit into your body. I say that the things which the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.  And I do not desire that you should have fellowship with demons.  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers of the Lord’s Table and of a table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He (1Corinthians 10:20-22)? The animal sacrifices that they offer at Halloween, and they offer it to demons not to God, and the Halloween party that they throw, it is to those demons that they are throwing those parties. That food and the drinks in those parties, are dedicated to those demons. So, if we partake of the cup of the blood of Jesus, that we take during the Holy Communion and eat the bread that represents the body of Christ, we should not be drinking from the cup of blood of demons and eating the flesh of demons. We cannot be partakers of the Lord’s Table and of the table of demons. 

Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? Let it not be! Or do you not know that he being joined to a harlot is one body? For He says, The two shall be one flesh (1Corinthians 6:15-16). Do not be deceived brothers and sisters, it is a spiritual thing, and if you put on those demonic costumes and those dead people’s faces, you become one with those dead people and those demons. Your members belong to Christ, now use them to glorify Jesus not demons. When we drink the cup of grape juice that represents the blood of Jesus, we remind the Lord that we are in a blood covenant with Him, and when we eat the bread that represents His body we proclaim the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. 

He died for us, and our old man or woman died with Him, that He was buried for us, and our old man or old woman was buried with him, and that He rose from the grave on the third day, and that we rose with Him from the grave in a new creation, and the resurrected Christ now dwells in the new creation, and the Holy Spirit now dwells in this new creation (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). We are married to the resurrected Christ that rose from the dead (Romans 7:3). So when you become partakers of the table of demons by drinking their cup and eating their food, you enter into a blood covenant with them also, and you died with them, and now they have come back from the world of the dead to dwell in you. Your body has become their temple. These are spiritual things and people think it is a joke. 

They think putting that jack-O’-Lantern in their house or garden is innocent. They think it is a good spirit or harmless spirit, and it will repel bad spirits or harmful spirits. First of all, there is only one good spirit and that is the Holy Ghost, the angels of God are good because they have the Holy Ghost. Any other spirit is a demon, and demons are like their master Satan: they come but to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus and His Holy Ghost have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Jesus says: How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end (Mark 3:23-26). 

So that Jack-O’-Lantern, that pumpkin with a candle inside, is not repelling or casting out any demon, on the contrary it is inviting more demons into your house. The candle or the bulb that they put in that pumpkin, represents the life of that spirit. Yes, the life of that demon in your house. You need the life of Jesus in your house, not the life of a demon in your house. Jesus says: I am the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). He says: I am the light of the world: he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12). So why would anybody want to follow Satan and his demons, who all come from the kingdom of darkness and walk in darkness. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world (John 9:5). As long as you have Jesus in your little world (in your house, in your business, in your garden) you will have the light of the world, but as soon as you start inviting demons into your world then darkness will invade your little world.

1.4 Stick with God and it shall be well with you

The people celebrated Halloween and offered those burnt animal sacrifices to those demons, so that they would not lose their crops and their animals through some plagues in the land. But the truth is, the only person who can protect you, your crops and your animals from the plagues is God and His Holy Ghost. The book of Exodus from Exodus 3 to Exodus 14, when God sent the ten plagues on the land of Egypt, they lost all their animals, their crops and their firstborns, and at the end God destroyed pharaoh and his entire army in the red sea. None of those plagues came into the land of Goshen where the people of God were living. None of their animals died, none of their children died, none of their crops were destroyed, and when there was darkness in Egypt, there was always light in Goshen. Be on God’s side and no plague shall come near your dwelling (Psalm 91:10). 

People will say you are taking things too seriously; it is only a holiday all the demonic aspects of Halloween are no longer practiced. This is the strategy of the devil, to make people think that he does not exist, and it is the deadliest weapon in his arsenal. If you and I are not careful, we will fall into the same trap. My people perish for lack of knowledge, and because they have rejected the knowledge (Hosea 4:6). May we not be destroyed, because after we have heard the truth, we have decided to reject it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we, which have believed, do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world (Hebrews 4:2-3). 

God said through Hosea: Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples, Ephraim is a cake, unturned aliens have devoured his strength but yet he does not know it (Hosea 7:8). We should not serve the Lord and add to the Lord the idols of unsaved people; we should not be partakers of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. The truth is Ephraim was the first to go into captivity in Assyria because they decided to serve the Lord and add the demons at the same time. Judah also went into captivity in Babylon after they adopted the ways of Ephraim. God is a jealous God. I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:2-3). 

For you shall worship no other god. For Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God; lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice to their gods, and call you, and you eat of his sacrifice (Exodus 34:14-15). Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment (Mark 12:29-30). If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14;15). If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love (John 15:10). 

2. Can Christians celebrate Christmas, Easter and Pentecost?

Now idolatry is the worship of idols, images, or anything made by hands, or which is not God. Idolatry is of two kinds; the worship of images, statues and pictures made by hands; and the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars, or of demons, angels, men and animals. Many Christians are practicing idolatry and they do not know it. People have a picture of Jesus in their house, a picture of Mary or a statue of Jesus on the cross or a statue of Mary, or the Christmas manger with the baby Jesus in the manger. In the days of Jesus there was no photography, so no one knows how Jesus looked. Do not join in their idolatry – put up your Christmas tree and the decorations and the baby Jesus and Mary, but remember it is idolatry in the manger; and do not think that any of those things are holy and certainly do not worship them. 

That baby Jesus and Mary in that manger, you have in some churches at Christmas, is just to represent what happened at the birth of Jesus. And the play that the children do, is just to tell people in a theatrical way what happened at the birth of Jesus. 

Unfortunately, many people started to worship that ceramic baby and woman, that was in that manger, thinking it was the image of the baby Jesus and Mary. And they started to worship those statuettes. That is why many churches have banned that nativity scene from their churches. Man is an idolater at heart; when you start making images of God and Jesus; he will sooner or later end up worshiping them. You shall not make any representation of God, Jesus is God. You shall not make yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Exodus 20:3). 

Now let me also crash the party for some people; Jesus was not born on the 25th of December. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates Christmas on the 25th of December and so do all the Western churches. The Eastern Orthodox churches, celebrate Christmas on January 7th, the American Patriarchate of Jerusalem, celebrate it on January 19th. The birth of Jesus, was according to the scriptures; His death, burial and resurrection were also according to the scriptures as Paul explains to us in 1Corinthians 15:1-4. Jesus has to fulfil all the scriptures; for He came in the volume of the scroll of the book and it was already written of Him, to do the will of the Father (Psalm 40:7 and Hebrews 10:7). 

Isaiah prophecies about Jesus, saying: the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which means God tabernacling with us, or God with us (Isaiah 7:14). We have explained in the series of the perfect redemption plan of God, how Jesus fulfilled the Passover feast. We have explained that we Christians celebrate the Passover feast and not Easter; The Passover is a seven days feast, Jesus was crucified on the fourth day of the celebration, when the high priest kills the Pascal lamb and He rose on the seventh day of the feast. The church in the west celebrate Easter on April 5th ,2015; the Eastern Orthodox church celebrates Easter on April 12th, 2015. But the feast of Passover is from April 4th to April 12th, 2015. 

After the Passover feast, we have the feast of weeks, also called Shavuot. It is from sunset May 23rd to Sunrise May 25th, 2015. It is fifty days after Passover. It commemorates the giving of the Torah, the five first book of Moses, by God on Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 4:10-13). Pentecost in the western church is on Sunday 24th May 2015. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Pentecost on Sunday 31st May 2015. After their deliverance from Egypt, after they had observed the Passover, they came into the wilderness, and Moses went upon the Mountain for forty days and forty nights, to receive the Torah from the Lord and came down from Mount Sinai. The same thing for Jesus; he showed Himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). And beginning at Moses [the Torah even from Genesis to Deuteronomy] and all the Prophets [from Joshua to Malachi], He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). 

The day of Pentecost, or the day of Shavuot recorded in Acts 2; was the fulfilment of the shadow; God did not just give the word and the understanding of the word, but He also gave the Spirit of the Word. Because the letters alone without the Spirit behind the latter kills, but when those letters are mixed with the Spirit of God who wrote them; they impart life to the hearers; that is what Paul was trying to explain to us when he said: God, through Christ Jesus has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive (2Corinthians 3:6). 

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after forty days and forty nights, He blindly applied the letters of the Law, and 3,000 people died because of their idolatry, even worshiping the golden calf they had made. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men (Exodus 32:28). But on the day of Pentecost, which is the fulfilment of Shavuot, after Peter preached to correct people of their evil so that they could repent; 3,000 people were saved. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41). Let your ministration be a ministration of life to the people, not a ministration of death! May the words that come out of your mouth be Spirit and life to the hearers (John 6:63)!

We have seen How the Feast of Weeks even Shavuot was fulfilled, and how the Passover feast was fulfilled. Was the feast of tabernacle also fulfilled? Because these are the three feasts God imposed Israel to observe until they are fulfilled. Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Jehovah your God, in the place which He shall choose: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread or Passover, and in the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before Jehovah empty, but each with his gift in his hand, according to the blessing of Jehovah your God, which He has given you (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). 

Now the feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, lasts as an eight days celebration, it will be from sunset Sunday 27th September 2015 through to sunset Monday 5th October 2015. You shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days after you have gathered in your grain floor and your wine press (Deuteronomy 16:13). The feast of tabernacles is used to remember the huts, even sukkot in Hebrew, Israel lived in during their forty years sojourn in the desert, after the exodus from Egypt. God dwelt, even tabernacled in their midst; for Moses made Him a tabernacle of meeting. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says, “Heaven is My throne and earth is My footstool. What house will you build Me, says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? Has not My hand made all these things (Acts 7:48-50)?” Therefore, He decided to prepare a body for Himself according to Hebrews 10:5; so that He can wrap Himself in human flesh and come and be in the midst of His people, and demonstrate how much He so loves them. 

Therefore, Isaiah prophesied, saying: the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us or God tabernacling with us (Isaiah 7:14). The birth of Jesus fulfilled that feast of tabernacles or Sukkot. Just like the death and resurrection of Jesus was according to the scriptures and during the Passover week, and the day of Pentecost at the end of the feast of weeks or Shavuot, according to the scriptures; the birth of Jesus Christ also was according to the scriptures, during the eight days feast of Sukkot or feast of tabernacles. 

Sorry to have crashed your belief about Jesus being born on December 25th. Today you know the truth according to the scriptures. I also am sorry to have crashed your understanding of Easter and Passover, how the dates are not the same. Now the Jews use a lunar calendar; which is different from the calendar the west uses. Now these three: feast of Passover, feast of tabernacles and feast of weeks or Shavuot; corresponded to a time of harvest; that is why God commanded them not to come empty handed into his house. 

When Christianity began to spread into Europe under the Roman Empire, long after the death of the apostles of Jesus; Christians discovered that the pagans also celebrated their harvest times, and the solstices and equinoxes. And many times, they were celebrating it to demons; bringing their crops to idols which are but demons. During the winter solstice, pagans worshiped and celebrated the coming of the new sun, even the sun god. During the spring equinox, the pagans worshiped and celebrated the goddess eostre, also known as Easter, goddess of fertility. The rabbit and the egg were the images used for the goddess Easter of fertility. That is why during Easter they sell rabbit and egg chocolates. 

What the church in the 18th century decided to do, was to change these pagans’ feasts into Christians feasts, so that the new converts would not go and be tempted to celebrate and worship the pagan gods, which are but demons; but they would come to celebrate Jesus. That is why you have two different dates for Christmas in the Western Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church; because the winter solstice dates are different. And you also have two different dates for the resurrection day of Jesus, in the Western Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church; because the spring equinox does not start at the same time. 

So, during those two feasts, Christians were coming to church and they were preaching the birth of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate Christmas, even though we know that the date is wrong! Should we celebrate Passover week, and the resurrection day which is the last day of that Passover week? And should we celebrate Pentecost which is the fulfilment of Shavuot? The answer is yes! As long as we have the right understanding, we can do it, and use that great opportunity to preach Jesus to the unsaved, for that is the only time they will come to church or they want to hear the word of God. 

During resurrection day, the last day of the Passover week; should we buy chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies and hide them in our garden for the kids to find them? Is it idol worship? Now even when we describe inaccurately the Passover feast and the last day of that feast, which is the resurrection day, as being Easter celebration, it is because that is how the majority of people know it. But God knows our heart that we are not celebrating the goddess of fertility, Easter but the living God. I, Gery, like chocolate eggs, chocolate bears, chocolate bunnies, chocolate snails, and any other animal shaped chocolate. Let me ask you something: when you buy that chocolate box with all kinds of animal shaped chocolates; do you eat them or not? When you eat them, do you think that you are eating the image of a pagan god? For to every animal on earth mankind has made a god out of it. What I do is, during the resurrection day, the last day of the Passover week, I do not buy egg chocolates or bunny chocolates for myself nor as a gift for anyone. 

Why? Paul tells me: though there are those who are called gods, whether in Heaven or in earth (as there are many gods and many lords) [their worshipers have used different animal shapes to represent their gods: eggs, bunnies, elephants, mice, bears, snail, lobsters, etc], but there is to us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we by Him. But this knowledge is not in all. But some being aware of the idol, eat as an idolatrous sacrifice until now, and their conscience being weak is defiled. [During resurrection day, they think if they eat an egg chocolate or a bunny chocolate, they are worshiping the goddess Easter]. But food, including animal shaped chocolates, does not commend us to God. For neither if we eat [those animal shaped chocolates, even the egg and bunny chocolates] are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. 

But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you, Gery, who have knowledge sitting in an idol temple or even sitting in your own house during Passover eating egg and bunny chocolates or sending it as gifts to people], will not the weak one’s conscience be lifted up, so as to eat things sacrificed to idols? [Or worse, he will think that you are worshiping the goddess Easter]. And on your knowledge, the weak brother will fall, he for whom Christ died. And sinning in this way against your brothers, and wounding their conscience, being weak, you sin against Christ. [It will take you about five minutes to explain to your brother that you are not worshiping the goddess Easter, by eating those egg and bunny chocolates or sending it to him as a gift; but he will not even give you those five minutes to explain yourself]. Therefore, if food offends my brother, I will eat no flesh forever [or at least during that period of Passover I will not eat egg and bunny chocolates nor send it as a gift to anybody], so that I do not offend my brother (1Corinthians 8:5-13). 

Some Christians are so weak in their conscience, that if they go to India and see all the idols of the gods they have there; when they come back to the West they will become vegan. Vegetarians and vegans avoid meat; vegetarians eat at least eggs but vegans do not even eat egg. In the 18th century when pagans were celebrating Easter, they were putting chicken eggs in their garden for kids to find them in the morning; they were also putting chocolate eggs; in India the cow is sacred to some people; it is the totem of their god. That is why some of them do not eat cow, or any other animal that is the totem of their god. My friend, let not your conscience be weak; receive your food with thanksgiving and eat. If the knowledge of idols and their animal totem is bigger in your conscience than the knowledge of the only True living God; you will always be afraid and will end up turning into a vegan. 

Now should we send gifts to people during Passover, Christmas and Pentecost? The answer is yes; when there is a celebration, we should give presents to each other. The principle of sending gifts during festive times, is taken from the instruction of Mordecai. Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, to establish among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, as in the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions to one another, and gifts to the poor (Esther 9:20-22). 

My friend, learn to celebrate life and enjoy your time with the family. If you want to put up your Christmas tree and the presents underneath the tree, go ahead. I, Gery, never had a Christmas tree in our house when growing up; the gifts were given to us in the morning. And even when we became 12 years old, we told our parents not to buy us any toys but give us the money, so we could buy what we wanted. We never made a big deal about Christmas. What truly mattered was the time we spent together as a family; we cooked nice meals, and baked. Our parents gave us gifts regularly; we did not have to wait for Christmas to receive gifts. I think that is why we did not make a big deal out of Christmas. And during Passover in my country of birth, I never noticed eggs or bunny chocolates; it is only when I came into the west that I noticed the big deal over egg and bunny chocolates. Celebrate life, rejoice with your family, and celebrate their birthdays. 

Some so-called messianic Christian and messianic Jews, want us to stop celebrating Christmas, because it is not on the day of the feast of tabernacles; they want us to stop celebrating Easter. I told you, Christians do not celebrate Easter but Passover with its climax on the resurrection day. And they want us to stop worshipping on Sunday but on the Sabbath, and observe all the feasts of the Jews. Love such Christians; and do not argue with them. The secular world celebrates Easter; but you as a Christian, you now understand that you are celebrating the Passover and the resurrection of Christ. I know that the days the Western Church and Eastern Church celebrate their resurrection day, is different from the Passover week, according to the Jewish lunar calendar; but I chose not to be nitpicky about it. 

If I were to be nitpicky about it, I would not celebrate either the Passover feast, or Pentecost or the feast of tabernacles; for Jesus fulfilled them once for all. He is not coming the second time to enter the womb of a virgin again; or to be crucified and raised again, or to send the Holy Ghost on earth again. That is why Paul, when the Jewish believers were trying to force the gentiles to observe not just these three feasts God commanded, which were now fulfilled in the body of Christ Jesus, but also all the Sabbaths: Sabbath of the week and Sabbath of the years. Paul says: how do you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you again desire to slave anew? You observe days [Sabbath days and Day of Atonement] and months and times and years [Sabbath years]. I fear for you, lest somehow, I have laboured among you in vain (Galatians 4:9-11). 

Receive him who is weak in the faith, but not to judgments of your thoughts. For indeed one believes to eat all things [all animals and all animal shaped chocolates]; but being weak, another eats vegetables [he becomes even a vegan because he sees that every animal is a god to a group of people somewhere in the world]. Do not let him who eats despise him who does not eat; and do not let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. [You do not have to be kosher, you can eat whatever is set before you]. Who are you that judges another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. But he will stand, for God is able to make him stand (Romans 14:1-4). 

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market [even when it is labelled halal meat, not just kosher meat], asking no question for conscience’ sake; “for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it. ” If any of those who do not believe, invite you to a feast, and if you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for conscience’ sake. But if anyone says to you, This is slain in sacrifice to idols, do not eat for the sake of him who showed it, and for conscience’ sake; “for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it”; conscience, I say, not your own, but the other’s. For why is my liberty judged by another’s conscience? For if I by grace am a partaker, why am I evil spoken of, for that for which I give thanks? Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews [who want only to eat kosher food and see other food as unclean; if you are in their house eat what they set before you, and do not try to lecture them, that animal represented the different nations of the world; and now in Christ Jesus, God has cleansed all those nations, so therefore we should not call anything common or unclean anymore according to Acts 10:11-16]. 

Give no offense to the Greeks or gentiles [by calling their food unclean or common; telling jokes like Jesus cast out a legion of devils and sent them into swine or any other jokes about the type of food people eat]. Give no offense to the church of God [for according to Paul if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God according to 1Corinthians 11:16; do not bring your prejudices about people’s food into the church of God, for it will just divide brethren instead of edifying them]; even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved (1Corinthians 10:25-33). 

One indeed esteems a day [even the Sabbath] above another day; and another esteems every day alike; [whether it is the Sabbath or Sunday or any other day of the week]. Let each one be fully assured in his own mind. That is why, if you are living in an Islamic nation and their day off is Friday; you as Christians do your service on Friday; if you, do it on Sunday some people will have to miss school or work and they might end up losing their job. If you are in Israel and their day off is the Sabbath, you as Christians do your service on the Sabbath. I preached for two years in a Sabbath keeping church in Manchester; the people could not keep the Sabbath every weekend for they were working; and they were always feeling guilty and repenting every Sabbath for not fully keeping the Sabbath. He who regards the day regards it to the Lord; and he not regarding the day, does not regard it to the Lord. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For both if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, both if we live, and if we die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:5-8). 

Some of the messianic Christians and messianic Jews, think that because you celebrate Christmas and the day you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, is the same day the pagans celebrate Easter, that you are worshiping the sun god and the goddess of fertility Easter. You know you are not doing that as we have explained. Even in the Jewish calendar they have the month of Tammuz, the fourth month of the Hebrew calendar (Jeremiah 39:2). But Tammuz is a Babylonian and Sumerian goddess of fertility, like Easter the western goddess of fertility. The women in the temple of God were weeping for Tammuz in the days of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:14). All the months and days of the week in our Julian calendar are named after pagan gods. We are in the world but we are not of the world; we cannot change the names of days and months on our Julian calendar; or the Hebrews change the name of the month of Tammuz on their Hebrew calendar. 

During the month of Tammuz, the Jews celebrate the New Moon or Rosh Chodesh, even the beginning of the Month. It was what Moses instructed them in Exodus 12:1-2; And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. On the 17th day of the month of Tammuz it is a fast day. Thus says Jehovah of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month [the month of Tammuz], and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore, love truth and peace (Zechariah 8:19). 

Now when the Hebrews celebrate the New Moon even Rosh Chodesh during the Tammuz; or when they fasted for seventy years on the 17th day of Tammuz, and later on celebrated on the 17th day of Tammuz, at the instruction of the Lord to Zechariah; were they celebrating to the goddess of fertility Tammuz? Where they weeping and in sackcloth and ashes during their fast to the goddess of Tammuz? Was God ever confused, whether their celebration and fasting during the month of Tammuz, were to the only true living God, or to the goddess of fertility Tammuz? I can tell you without any shadow of doubt, God was never confused and is never confused; He knows that their celebration of the New Moon, and the fast of the 17th day of Tammuz, which He turned into a celebration, is unto the only true God. 

David a man after God’s own heart, explains to Solomon that God is not confused; for he searches our hearts and knows what is inside. You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For Jehovah searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever (1Chronicles 28:9). Solomon after the Lord healed his backsliding said: If you say, Behold, we did not know; does not God who searches the heart, consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He know? And He repays to a man according to his works (Proverbs 24:12). 

God knows that His people were not worshiping Tammuz; when the women were doing so secretly in the temple; He revealed it to Ezekiel. God knows that if you are worshiping God on Sunday or celebrating Christmas, you are not worshiping the sun god but the true living God. God knows that when you are celebrating the resurrection day of Jesus Christ in the western church, and it coincides with the Easter day of the pagans; He knows you are not celebrating the goddess of fertility Easter; but the resurrected Christ. The only thing Christians do not celebrate is Halloween. Messianic Christians and messianic Jews will avoid the subject of Tammuz and the Month of Tammuz. 

Remember the word of God is a two edged sword; if you use it to cut your brothers in a judging way; it will also cut you back. So though in the western Church we loosely say Easter instead of Passover and resurrection day, which is the last day of the Passover week; God knows what is in our heart; He knows that we are not celebrating the goddess Easter; He is not confused, neither are His angels. Should we train born again Christians to think in terms of Passover celebration, instead of Easter celebration? The answer is yes! Yet, even we people or ministers of the Gospel, use the term Easter; they are not worshiping that goddess of fertility but the true living God. 

So according to their own accusations against it, they should also stop celebrating the New Moon, or celebrating the fast of the 17th day of Tammuz, God turned into a celebration. We Gentile believers should not allow our messianic Christian Brethren and messianic Jews to force us to observe the new moon, we are called to liberty. We no longer observe days, months, years and times; as Paul taught us; all those types and shadows were fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Paul was harsh with some of the messianic Jews and messianic Christians, for they were bringing more confusion and division into the church; instead of edifying the brethren. 

God Bless You

Gery Malanda