Daily Bible Portion (Wednesday)
Daily Bible Portion – 4 of 7
"PASSOVER - UNLEAVENED BREAD"
(And the History of Easter)
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 13:17-15:26, Numbers 28:19-25, 2 Samuel 22:1-51, John 19:38 to 20:23, Acts 1)
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea
Constantine's position was purely political. He used Christianity for his own gain and did not commit himself to the faith until his death, just to cover himself. In 325 CE he assembled a general council of more than 200 bishops at Constantine's palace. Called the Council of Nicaea, its purpose was to settle two main issues. The first concerned the divinity of Christ. The writings of Arius (Arianism) a Presbyter in Alexandria taught that Jesus was divine, but that He was a lesser deity, created by the Father and that He did not exist prior to the Father, but came into being after God. Arius failed in his attempt, was labeled a heretic and excommunicated. Later the authorities tried to reinstate him but he died suddenly the night before the reinstatement ceremony.
Although the Council of Nicaea dealt primarily with the issue of the deity of Christ, some maintain that the council was not the originator for the doctrine of the Trinity. Over a century earlier the use of the term "Trinity" (trinitas in Latin) could be found in the writings of Origen (185-254) and Tertullian (160-220), and a general notion of a "divine three" in some sense was expressed in the second and third-century writings of Polycarp, Ignatius, and Justin Martyr. The doctrine in a more full-fledged form was not formulated until the Council of Constantinople in 360 AD. Trinitarian professes that God eternally exists in three distinct persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Father is not the Spirit, etc.
Contradicting Monotheism
In contrast, Scripture affirms the truth of God's One-ness called Monotheism. Monotheism upholds the scriptural tenet without attempting to explain God in His numerous manifestations. Monotheism is the foundation through which the finite human mind cannot even begin to grasp and understand our infinite God. Monotheism expresses the fundamental Scriptural truth that God is One, and this One and only God is: Omnipresent existing everywhere at all times. God has no special boundaries. He fills the universe and beyond, and He is always near. Monotheism also expresses the fundamental Scriptural truth that God is One, and this One and only God is Omniscient knowing all things. God knows all our thoughts and deeds in the past present and future. Monotheism expresses the fundamental Scriptural truth that God is One, and this One and only God is Omnipotent is all-powerful, eternal, without beginning and without end. God transcends time. God exists everywhere and at all times. The numerous manifestations of God throughout the Bible are simply progressive revelations of the same One God. Monotheism focus: God is One and does not separate God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into eternally separate and distinct Persons, Modes or Manifestations. There is no beginning and no ending:
•Omnipresent: Father, Creator, Shepherd, First.
•Omniscient: Son, Redeemer, King, Last.
•Omnipotent: Holy Spirit, Savior "I AM" Rock. One Eternal God
God = Jesus = Words = Spirit = God = Words = Jesus = Spirit etc. etc.
Easter: The Pagan Feast of the Spring Equinox
The second issue settled by Constantine at the Council of Nicaea was the difference between God's Scriptural Feast of Passover verses Easter. The Jews celebrated Passover for thousands of years on the eve of the 14th day of Nisan, the first biblical month of the year. The pagan celebration of Easter was celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring equinox in March.
Sometime in the second century the gentile pagan bishops in many of the western churches among the Greek believers began a campaign to syncretize the traditional worship of their gods into Yahweh's biblical Feast Days. Starting with Passover, they successfully devised a plan to blend the death and resurrection of Messiah into their pagan worship of Tammuz and move Christ's death and resurrection dates to match their own sun equinox celebrations. They also changed the Scriptural Sabbath day of worship to Sun-day in honor their sun god. By this time Greek believers, along with the rest of the culture, were becoming accustomed to the Roman solar calendar (like the one we have today) instead of God's Scriptural lunar calendar; hence the changes the council of Nicaea were suggesting were not challenged. The result of all this so called theological blending ushered in a new religion called Christianity.
Constantine, the Sun God, and the Easter Rule
Emperor Constantine thought of himself as the sun god. This required that his subjects worship him as the one true god. Prior to convening the Council of Nicaea, Constantine had already declared that whoever would disturb the unity of this church doctrine would be a "malignant foe" motivated by a "malevolent demon," exposing God's law to "slander and detraction." To have absolute rule he chose to eliminate from his empire any disunity caused by the Jewish traditions (or 'internal sedition' as he called them). In order to do this Constantine established the Easter Rule through the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. It was decided at this Council that the church as a whole would celebrate the festival of Easter, not Passover, and that they would do so using the vernal equinox calculation choosing Sun-day after the full moon in March. Their purpose in doing so was to avoid the true Scriptural date of Passover. All of the churches were ordered to comply under the threat of excommunication and death if they did not comply with this decision.
Soon after the unbiblical "feast" of Easter in 337 CE Constantine fell seriously ill and knew he was dying. If he should survive he promised to live a more Christian life. Desiring purification he sought to be baptized as Christ had in the Jordan River. Constantine died fifty days later on the feast of Pentecost on May 22, 337 CE.
continues tomorrow...
"PASSOVER - UNLEAVENED BREAD"
(And the History of Easter)
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 13:17-15:26, Numbers 28:19-25, 2 Samuel 22:1-51, John 19:38 to 20:23, Acts 1)
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea
Constantine's position was purely political. He used Christianity for his own gain and did not commit himself to the faith until his death, just to cover himself. In 325 CE he assembled a general council of more than 200 bishops at Constantine's palace. Called the Council of Nicaea, its purpose was to settle two main issues. The first concerned the divinity of Christ. The writings of Arius (Arianism) a Presbyter in Alexandria taught that Jesus was divine, but that He was a lesser deity, created by the Father and that He did not exist prior to the Father, but came into being after God. Arius failed in his attempt, was labeled a heretic and excommunicated. Later the authorities tried to reinstate him but he died suddenly the night before the reinstatement ceremony.
Although the Council of Nicaea dealt primarily with the issue of the deity of Christ, some maintain that the council was not the originator for the doctrine of the Trinity. Over a century earlier the use of the term "Trinity" (trinitas in Latin) could be found in the writings of Origen (185-254) and Tertullian (160-220), and a general notion of a "divine three" in some sense was expressed in the second and third-century writings of Polycarp, Ignatius, and Justin Martyr. The doctrine in a more full-fledged form was not formulated until the Council of Constantinople in 360 AD. Trinitarian professes that God eternally exists in three distinct persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Father is not the Spirit, etc.
Contradicting Monotheism
In contrast, Scripture affirms the truth of God's One-ness called Monotheism. Monotheism upholds the scriptural tenet without attempting to explain God in His numerous manifestations. Monotheism is the foundation through which the finite human mind cannot even begin to grasp and understand our infinite God. Monotheism expresses the fundamental Scriptural truth that God is One, and this One and only God is: Omnipresent existing everywhere at all times. God has no special boundaries. He fills the universe and beyond, and He is always near. Monotheism also expresses the fundamental Scriptural truth that God is One, and this One and only God is Omniscient knowing all things. God knows all our thoughts and deeds in the past present and future. Monotheism expresses the fundamental Scriptural truth that God is One, and this One and only God is Omnipotent is all-powerful, eternal, without beginning and without end. God transcends time. God exists everywhere and at all times. The numerous manifestations of God throughout the Bible are simply progressive revelations of the same One God. Monotheism focus: God is One and does not separate God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into eternally separate and distinct Persons, Modes or Manifestations. There is no beginning and no ending:
•Omnipresent: Father, Creator, Shepherd, First.
•Omniscient: Son, Redeemer, King, Last.
•Omnipotent: Holy Spirit, Savior "I AM" Rock. One Eternal God
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word [Yeshua], and the Word [Yeshua] was with God, and the Word [Yeshua] was God.
John 1:14 And the Word [Yeshua] became flesh and dwelt among us , and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 And the Word [Yeshua] became flesh and dwelt among us , and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 10:30 I [Yeshua] and My Father are one."
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him [Yeshua] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Psalms 33:6 By the word [Yeshua] of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit [Breath, Words, Yeshua] who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are SPIRIT, and they are life.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed [Spirit, Words, Yeshua] into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Revelation 19:13 "He [Yeshua] was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God."
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him [Yeshua] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Psalms 33:6 By the word [Yeshua] of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit [Breath, Words, Yeshua] who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are SPIRIT, and they are life.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed [Spirit, Words, Yeshua] into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Revelation 19:13 "He [Yeshua] was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God."
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
God = Jesus = Words = Spirit = God = Words = Jesus = Spirit etc. etc.
Easter: The Pagan Feast of the Spring Equinox
The second issue settled by Constantine at the Council of Nicaea was the difference between God's Scriptural Feast of Passover verses Easter. The Jews celebrated Passover for thousands of years on the eve of the 14th day of Nisan, the first biblical month of the year. The pagan celebration of Easter was celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring equinox in March.
Sometime in the second century the gentile pagan bishops in many of the western churches among the Greek believers began a campaign to syncretize the traditional worship of their gods into Yahweh's biblical Feast Days. Starting with Passover, they successfully devised a plan to blend the death and resurrection of Messiah into their pagan worship of Tammuz and move Christ's death and resurrection dates to match their own sun equinox celebrations. They also changed the Scriptural Sabbath day of worship to Sun-day in honor their sun god. By this time Greek believers, along with the rest of the culture, were becoming accustomed to the Roman solar calendar (like the one we have today) instead of God's Scriptural lunar calendar; hence the changes the council of Nicaea were suggesting were not challenged. The result of all this so called theological blending ushered in a new religion called Christianity.
Constantine, the Sun God, and the Easter Rule
Emperor Constantine thought of himself as the sun god. This required that his subjects worship him as the one true god. Prior to convening the Council of Nicaea, Constantine had already declared that whoever would disturb the unity of this church doctrine would be a "malignant foe" motivated by a "malevolent demon," exposing God's law to "slander and detraction." To have absolute rule he chose to eliminate from his empire any disunity caused by the Jewish traditions (or 'internal sedition' as he called them). In order to do this Constantine established the Easter Rule through the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. It was decided at this Council that the church as a whole would celebrate the festival of Easter, not Passover, and that they would do so using the vernal equinox calculation choosing Sun-day after the full moon in March. Their purpose in doing so was to avoid the true Scriptural date of Passover. All of the churches were ordered to comply under the threat of excommunication and death if they did not comply with this decision.
Soon after the unbiblical "feast" of Easter in 337 CE Constantine fell seriously ill and knew he was dying. If he should survive he promised to live a more Christian life. Desiring purification he sought to be baptized as Christ had in the Jordan River. Constantine died fifty days later on the feast of Pentecost on May 22, 337 CE.
continues tomorrow...
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