Christmas Discrepancies

At this time of the year when the whole world celebrates Christmas, I can see many discrepancies that deviate from the truth creating at the same time traditions that with time obtain a religious position. This becomes distressing when certain religious groups call themselves “Christians” and even more distressing when these discrepancies are accepted by Christians and Christian leaders, as if they were biblical truths.

One is… so many people talking about the “baby Jesus”. They talk about it, sing about it and instill the idea in children as a substitute for Santa Claus. There’s no such thing as “baby Jesus”. My grandfather was once a baby. Should I call him “baby grandpa?” Of course not. First of all, I never met him as a baby, neither saw his picture as a baby. Secondly, I met him as who he became, who he was born to be. An adult… my grandpa – The same with Jesus. He was a baby when he was born. He had to be. But the purpose was to become an adult and as an adult he was able to be my Savior. If He would stay as a baby, He couldn’t do anything for me. Jesus wasn’t born to be known as a baby, but as a Savior. It would be like trying  to make mashed potatoes with potato seeds. Again I say… there is no such thing as a “baby Jesus”. There is a Jesus that was born among us, became like us to save us. And when someone accepts Him as their Lord and Savior, we say that… “He is born in our hearts.” That’s an expression based on the fact that from that moment on, He’s alive in that person’s heart. But in this marvelous episode of our lives, we (the ones who have accepted Him), we don’t see Him as a baby, but as a Lord that will be reigning in our lives. This is how we see Jesus in Christmas. He came has a King. The wise man came to see Him and worship Him as a King. Herod wanted to kill Him because the scriptures mentioned Him coming as a King that would sit on the throne of His father David, forever (Luke 1:32,33). That should be our way of talking about Him, singing about Him and teaching our children about Him, even on Christmas. Notice that we say Christ-mas, not Jesus-mas. Christ means “The Anointed One”. In Jesus time, only prophets, priests and Kings were anointed. Jesus as an adult became all three. This Christmas, let’s celebrate King Jesus.

One other discrepancy, probably the one that sticks out the most, is in reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her image has been adulterated to the point of a discrepancy being formed and transformed into tradition and from tradition it is now a dogma inside some religious groups. A dogma so strong and so engraved in the minds of many, that her position (among these religious groups) has become higher than her Son Jesus. Now… this becomes a big concern when Christians, believers, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ (not religious ones that have been labeled as Christians), get lured by these doctrines that the Apostle Paul would classify has “doctrine of demons” (I Timothy 4:1 NKJV). That’s when Christians become so vulnerable that the Devil can turn them into a yo-yo, and do whatever he wants to do with them. Then these same Christians are the ones that will question… “why did God allow this to happen in my life?”

This discrepancy was formed from the way that the Angel Gabriel approached Mary when he gave her the good news that she had been chosen to give birth to Jesus. No question she was chosen among others. But I believe that if God needed ten more virgins or twenty more, He would probably find them the same way He found Mary. But He only needed one, and Mary was the chosen one. Without getting into too many details on how Gabriel approached Mary and the way he saluted her, I just want to focus on the subject that Gabriel nor any other celestial being, including God Himself, ever placed Mary on a superior position or empowered her more than any other believer in her time, or after. People need to understand that Mary was chosen to be the vessel. God used Mary to bring Jesus to us. He didn’t use Jesus to exalt Mary. It is like getting a ride from someone and at the end of the trip you thank the car that carried you instead of the driver that gave you the ride. So here, all exaltation goes to God the Father that gave us His only begotten Son.

If we had to give any praise to Mary, we probably would have to give more to Joseph. First of all, Joseph could’ve stopped God’s plan but he didn’t. Because of Joseph’s love, Mary was saved from being stoned. Secondly, Gabriel spoke with Mary once, but Joseph had four divine visitations. The first one, was an angel that in a dream told Joseph to take Mary as his wife, and explained to Joseph how she got pregnant and that she was going to give birth to a child. The angel also told Joseph (this part is very interesting) that he would call His name Jesus. Legally, by God’s will, Joseph was Jesus’ father. In Luke 1:32 and 33, we saw above that Gabriel told Mary in reference to Jesus that “the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David". As history tells us, in any kingdom, the throne was always accessed through lineage. Now take well note of this; Jesus would sit in the throne of David because of His lineage with Joseph. Shouldn’t we here give Joseph some praise and exaltation? Note that Jesus would never sit on David’s throne because Mary was His mother, but because Joseph was His father. So, why do some religious groups exalt Mary so high when she was only a vessel and Joseph gave Him the right to be King on David’s throne, which according to the scriptures it will literally take place in the millennium (thousand-year reign of Christ) and after that… forever?! The Bible really doesn’t say anything about it, but even so, we don’t need to speculate or assume that besides Mary, Joseph was also chosen by God. When I read the genealogy of Jesus which starts with Abraham and after forty-two generations it ends with Joseph, I have no doubt at all that Joseph also was chosen to be Jesus’ earthly father. One other valid point, is how people recognized Jesus. For instance; in Matthew 13:55, we see that at a certain time when he came back to his home town and spoke with wisdom at the local synagogue, people questioned; “is this not the carpenter’s son”? In John 6:42 we find another episode when Jesus was teaching on the shore of Capernaum about Him being “The Bread of life”, and some Jews that didn’t like it, questioned; “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph”? Jesus one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man, presented himself not many times as the “Son Of God”, but a few times he did it as the “Son of Man” (Mark 10:45). But never as… the son of woman.   

Going back to Mary, there is something very profound that she said, and these distorted religious groups that have the audacity to call themselves “Christians”, don’t have the courage to face the truth that is written concerning Mary’s position before God and among believers. In the gospel of Luke chapter one, we find the well known classic song of Mary. And in verse forty-seven we read the following words of Mary concerning her being chosen to give Jesus birth; “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior". By this, we can see that Mary was a normal woman that had been chosen by God for a specific moment. But that didn’t position her in any level of authority, power nor even has deity. Mary was very clear by saying that she was (like everyone else) a sinner and for that, now through Jesus, she could be saved because the Savior (through her) had come. That’s why she was special. She gave birth to the Savior that she (and the whole world) needed. Note that she didn’t position herself saved by just giving birth to the Savior. Today Mary is in heaven among many other believers. But note that in the throne room the Bible only mentions two thrones, God the Father and His Son Jesus to whom He said "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Psalm 110:1). Later on Jesus defined our access to the Father by saying that; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me". By Mary’s words we can say today that she went to the Father, through Jesus… THE  Way. In other words, Mary isn’t “the way” but she found the way. And what we can get from her today is the lesson of humility. That whatever favor we get from God, we can only see Him when we follow Mary’s footsteps and we say like her: “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” One last thing… Mary is no longer the “virgin Mary”. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had more sons. So this stops the idea that her pregnancy while a virgin, would give her any heights or a deity position. She was special, she was favored, she was obedient, she was blessed among other women, but above all, she was honest. And that was the high part. Chosen as a special vessel, she still looked inside herself and noticed that she needed a Savior. In Luke 1:43 Mary positions herself as… “I am the mother of my Lord".

2012 "Turn of Events"

We’ve just entered in the New Year, 2012. According to many biblical scholars, the number 12 signifies perfection of government, or of governmental perfection (placing things within perfect order). But I have also discovered (without going into details), that it’s also related with a “turn of events”.

The world is shifting, the human race is shifting, and the church will be shifted. 2012 is going to be a year of shifts, a year of turned events, a year of placing things… in order. You’re probably asking why, what for?

Why? ...Because God only moves when things are in order, in the right place, organized or in perfection of government. 

What for? ...It has to do with preparation. Getting things in order is a sign that there is a vision to be fulfilled. We need to get things in order, settle our priorities (governmental perfection) and let God shift things around. Here’s why; without being negative (although negative is not always bad), we need to keep looking ahead because every time God shifts things around the devil comes to hijack it. The number 13 in the Bible is a number of apostasy; depravity and rebellion. But number 14 is the number of deliverance and salvation (it speaks of double completion (2 x 7) and compression). 

Where I’m getting with all this is that the year 2013 is going to be a year of great challenges for the church and for every believer. Number 13 in the Bible also represents famine. So 2013 will be a year of spiritual famine. But when Isaac sowed in time of famine, he reaped one hundred fold. The year after (2014) will be a year of reaping. A year of spiritual harvest. This means that the church in 2012 that gets everything in order, settles all priorities and is positioned when God makes His shifting, His turn of events, that’s the church that will go through 2013. That’s the church that will be able to face negative challenges without compromising.  That church will enter 2014 ready to reap, harvest, revive.

You’re probably saying, Paul… that’s too far-fetched, that’s only probabilities. Well… it can also be possibilities, if Jesus doesn’t tarry (and I’m just talking about a couple of years ahead).

New World Currency?

After last Friday’s downgrade on the nation's credit rating and the stock markets kept tumbling over, concerns about the weakening U.S. economy, and the debt crisis in Europe, China calls for One World Currency to avoid international financial crisis over U.S. debt. 

A few days before, more precisely on August 1^st, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a Kremlin youth group while touring its summer camp north of Moscow, that the United States is living beyond its means "like a parasite" on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets. Then he added that "Countries like Russia and China hold a significant part of their reserves in American securities ... There should be other reserve currencies."

Notice that both countries, China and Russia, are basically saying the same. Without going into deep eschatology, the Bible mentions that Russia and China will be the ones that will ignite the last world war on the face of the earth, Armageddon.

The Bible also mentions that in the days of the Antichrist the world will be under One World Currency, a currency probably stipulated by him. Analyzing the end times prophecies we can see that the platform which will bring the Antichrist into power, with full acceptance by the world and its leaders, will be a financial crisis that no world leader, no high qualified economist, no one will be able to control it. But the Antichrist will.

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What’s going on in the world economy is a wake up call, that we are closer than ever to these end times days. How close are we? We are at the edge, the turnaround of the end times.

Here, many people are saying that the world “always had its ups and downs. Things were much harder in the time of the great depression then they are now, and no antichrist showed up, no rapture happened.”

One thing that these “analysts” don’t know is that many signs prophesied for the last days, were not visible, were not active, in those days when the world economy was in jeopardy. One of those signs was that the state of Israel hadn’t been established yet.

The state of Israel was established in 1948 (May 14^th). After this, after 1948, the world was never the same anymore. This prophecy having been fulfilled was the gate to the end times. After this, anything is possible concerning events prophesied for the last days.

Bottom line is that, now… the rapture can happen at any time and the antichrist can show up at anytime.   

The Apostle Peter in his second epistle, verses three and four, gave us a warning by saying… “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘where is the promise of His coming?’”

On charisma Magazine, August 2011, there was an article by Perry Stone where he said that “many apocalyptic Muslims who hold traditions concerning the last days believe there will be a worldwide economic crisis in which all paper money will be useless. The only money of value will be money consisting of gold and silver.”

“History confirms that when a major economic crisis blankets the world, precious metals such as gold and silver are sought after by investors, businessmen and private individuals.”

Have you noticed that lately there are more and more ads of financial companies offering their services to people who wish to invest in gold?

If for some reason the Antichrist decides to govern the world based on silver and gold he’s a fool. He will be charged by fraud and behind bars for a thousand years. In Haggai 2:8 we read that: “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, said the LORD of hosts.”

Will this be the new world currency during the millennium (thousand year reign of Christ)? Jesus told John the Apostle in Revelation 3:18 “I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich”.

At this point when Russia and China are calling for a new world currency, it’s the turning point.

You might be asking, “are you saying that I should invest in gold?!”

(…maybe later…).

 Right now, just take Jesus’ advice: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near”. Luke 21:28

The Positive New Year

Today is the first day of this New Year of 2011. The year just started but many “experts” have already presented their predictions. I really don’t want to get into this subject otherwise I’ll be here all day. I just want to say that we need to be very careful of whom we’re listing to and how we create images of this New Year based on someone’s negative predictions that will have some impact in the days ahead if we give it some attention.

If you listen to the media and the weather forecasters you will want to bury your head in the sand and wait till the year is over. No question that the media and the weather reports for this New Year are very negative, very scary. I say a lot of times that if I didn’t know what I know and if I didn’t have what I have (the Word of God), inside of me, I would be very scared to live in this world today.

If you are at this stage of relying in the media and the forecast reports, or any other negative report concerning this New Year, let me tell you this: God can turn around negative situations and bring to your life positive results. Yes; if you let God work in your negative situation, then you can expect Him to bring you, bring to your life, from the midst of that situation, positive results.

Right now you’re probably not giving me a lot of credit on this unless you have (like I have) experienced it before and more than once.

To help you understand this and look to your New Year beyond any human reports, first of all I want to let you know what God says in His Word concerning this New Year, for which I believe you have some plans, projects and dreams to come true.

In Jeremiah 29:11 we can see God’s expression concerning our life and His will, for the best, concerning the days ahead: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

To me, God’s positive thoughts for my life, for my New Year are so positive that there’s no room for any negative to remain. Believe it or not, to me this is more than enough. Based on God’s prediction, my New Year is already tailored for the best.

To reinforce this, I want to give you an example that will help you believe that God can really work the negative and pull out the positive.

You probably never heard this before, but I have to let you know that the negative always works in favor of the positive, so that the positive may reach… the objective.

Imagine that you’re on vacation, you’re on a cruise and you’re visiting beautiful places. You get hold of your camera and you just capture that beauty that your eyes see. You do your best to capture all you possibly can to get a great photo. After a few shots, you say to yourself… I got it! At this point you know that you have a great picture. Now pay good attention to this: You captured a great picture but you don’t have it yet, right? Why? (And this example that I’m about to give you, is based on the conventional way of photography).

When you finish taking pictures, you pull out from your camera the film and you take it to a photo shop to… to do what? To develop it, right? Now, very carefully get hold of this revelation that you’re about to receive: When you bring the film to the photo shop, you ask them to develop what? The “negative”!

That’s the official name of the film where you captured your beautiful photos. So we can say that in that negative you captured beautiful (positive) photos. Your beautiful pictures are in the negative. So now, from that negative they will get out and give you, the beautiful photos that you and others can see.

Did you get it?!

By this, how hard is it to believe that God can get out of the negative in your life, beautiful results that were around you (inside the negative) but you couldn’t do anything about it, till the moment that God shows up and starts to develop your… negative.

My point here is that, God will move in your difficulties, in your storms, in your problems, in your illness, in all your negative circumstances, if you’re willing to hand Him the negative, confident that He will develop it, bringing to you, to your hands, to your life… positive results.

Remember this, God is the creator of ALL things, and He can do anything, if you just give Him… something. So, on this New Year (starting today) don’t try to develop your negative. Remember, you’re not an expert. God is. So give God a chance.

Have a Happy, Prosperous and Blessed New Year.

The Season of Bigness

We are living, like never before, in the season of bigness. Not greatness but bigness. It is a plague that affects so many that are trapped in a 3D illusion. All over the place we see people looking for big things; big houses, big cars, big cities, big stores, big this and big that, and also… big churches. Some people that I know, they can’t be part of a small church. It just doesn’t work for them. There’s a mindset that many have developed and nurture it on a daily basis, that if it isn’t big, it’s not good, it is not great. For many, big is the symbol of good. And this mindset cancels any possible discernment to analyze, to find out, how good it really is in proportion to its… bigness. And that is; If there really is any possibility, if there really is any parametric equation that will show what measurements are required, what size, that will equal… good.

What many people don’t see, don’t get, is the fact that NOTHING in this entire world, starts big. Great things start small. Big churches started small. And for them to be big TODAY, somebody (many) paid the price of growth. For sure, in most cases, the price was always a high price. But they paid it and God honored it.

Big churches never started big.

Question: What is a big church? How can we describe or define a big church?
Answer: Big churches do not exist.

First of all we cannot define a church by the size of its building. The word church in the Greek is “ecclesia” which (in a very simple way) means “assembly”, an assembly of people, a group, more specifically, a congregation. So by this, the size of a building is irrelevant.

Now, what we really see is churches, congregations, with a small amount of people, others with a substantial amount of people and then we have others with a large amount of people. This is the only difference that we can find from one church to another - The amount of people. But if the concept and the purpose of a church changes by how many people it has, then we have a problem.

The church of Jesus Christ is many times (through biblical context) called; the Body of Christ, being He the head.  Now, the body is always subject to the head, which makes the head superior to the body. Many churches get so big that they become head and body. Here the ends don’t justify the means. It’s like going to a school and trying to analyze students’ knowledge by how big, how large or how tall they are.

This boils down to one thought.

From the beginning God always did great things with just a handful of people. He always moved forward with just a few. With only twelve Jesus changed the world.

We don’t need "big" churches (don’t get me wrong), what we need is committed people to do great things. As I said in the beginning, many are not comfortable in small churches. Small churches usually don’t have all the entertainment, all the programs, all the fascination, all the attractive features, etc. etc. Many go, because many are going. It’s an influential impulse. There is no purpose. At this point any result obtained has no effect. It is useless. Impulses die, but purposes, become goals that when active in the spiritual realm, impossible becomes possible. I say a lot of times that "if ten thousand people are doing the same exact thing, that doesn’t mean that thing is right".

Jesus compared His church to a bride. I’ve seen others comparing it with an umbrella, meaning that when you’re under it, you’re protected. Others have compared it with a hospital. I compare it with a table, where you go and you sit and you’re fed with the Word. The rest is irrelevant. This means that the size is not subject nor is it dependent of the purpose.

In Matthew 19:30 Jesus said... “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”  Then in chapter 20:16 He makes the final statement: “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.” 

Read "The Experience" about a small congregation with greatness. read now