winter

When one is in search for truth, that person must be honest about his or her findings. Once found, truth may be totally different from what we expected, hoped for, or grew up to believe. It may contradict our core beliefs and challenge us to view things quite differently. Truth can be be a double edged sword in many regards. Like a poacher trying to capture and kill and lion by trapping him a deep pit. He places a bloody steak over the pit itself in order to draw him when he is away. Truth, would be the meat itself, for it is good. However, when only accepted in part or misunderstood it could be your very downfall. Those that have taken truth for what it really is have light to their eyes, whereas those that take it in part and deny it are shamed by it or her followers.

With that being said, when one really studies the true origins of "Christmas" and are honest about their findings, versus taking the "I will believe my custom first" approach, one will quickly see that Jesus was not really the true "reason for the season," but somebody else was, nor was he born on "December 25."

Something to realize:

In all reality, First and foremost - because Yehoshua/Jesus was a Torah observant Jew he didn't observe the Julian Calendar or the Roman Calendar, he observed the Jewish Calendar. This is also the case concerning his 12 apostles and his Jewish disciples. In fact, the first "church" or congregation of believers was mostly, if not all, strictly Jewish.

In fact, the Latin ['Roman'] calendar called the Julian Calendar is completely different from the Jewish or Hebrew Calendar. One of the stark differences from the get go is that the Hebrew Calendar incorporates the movements and phases of the moon for determining its months and when exactly the New Year should take place. Whereas the Julian Calendar does not even acknowledge the moon in any way. The Julian Calendar is solely based on the movements of the sun and what position its in to determine when the New Year should take place. The Hebrew calendar uses the sun as well, but only in a limited way. The Hebrew people would see where the sun was positioned in the sky to know whether or not it was time for the New Year to take place. It is only when the sun arrived at the exact Spring Equinox position or anytime afterwards could the Hebrew New Year take place. Notice I said, "could take place." The exact day of New Year, however, would be dependant on the moon. At a first sunset following the exact timing of the 'New Moon' the New Jewish month would start, if this was the first one in or after the sun arrived at its spring equinox position this was the First Day of the New Year. Thus, New Year was always in the Spring, whereas in the Julian Calendar New Year was on the first day of Winter.

Moving on...

In all truth, one does not see the birthday of Yehoshua in any of the writings of the apostles, nor in the gospels, nor in any of the early church writings. Thus, one must ask himself, how can a group of people that lived 200 to 300 hundred years after the death of the first believers suddenly "know" when his birthday was? They can't if it was never written down!

When searching for truth, one quickly sees that the Roman world and the cultures therein, excluding the Jewish culture, had many upon many festivals throughout the year of the Julian calendar year, which was the calendar used by the Romans at the time. The Romans spread their culture throughout their vast empire. In many of these non-Jewish societies the people would have grand festivals during and around the time when the sun turned back again from its southern direction to head northward once again. On the modern Gregorian calendar, this falls on either December 21st or the 22nd of every year. The Romans had the "invented" birthday of Yehoshua incorporated into Roman holidays that fell during this time. In fact, the only people that would honestly know of his birth were his mother, brothers and sisters; and James does not even speak about it

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In truth, Jesus was not even born during winter, but during the Spring. The origin of celebrating December 25 as the birth of the messiah is because of pagan Gentile teachings and cultural practices; not because it has any truth to it.

During the days of the "Roman" Empire, (and prior), the people of Rome observed the movements of the celestial bodies for their calendar; as we Jews do to this day. The observances of the Romans and other Gentiles, however, were different from us Jews in regards to when they started their calendar. There are however, some Gentiles that have, or have had calendars that are the same, or similar to ours (the Hebrews), such as the ancient Assyrians.

Let me explain: In a sundial there are three main markings showing where the shadow of the sundial will lay or touch. Those three markings are:

1. The Northern Hemisphere Extreme line on 6/21 every year,

[thereabouts]

2. The Equinox line on 3/20-21, when leading into summer and back

again on 9/21, [thereabouts], when leading into Winter

3. The Southern Hemisphere Extreme on December 21,

[thereabouts]

In the Diagram below you can see these findings accordingly:

In ancient times, we Jewish folks kept the calendar differently than it is kept in modern times. We would take the first new moon on the first day of, or after, the first day of Spring, or "the Equinox Line" on the sundial.

This particular New Moon represents the actual New Year for us Jews.

Let''s get back on topic.

The Romans and others in the Empire did not use the Hebrew method of time. The Jews determined months by every new moon. By doing so, we had 12 to 13 months every year. The reason for the 13th month is because there are 365 (rounded off) days in the year; that is by the sundial. However, when using each new moon as the basis for each month, the time between each one is not long enough to equal the full 365 days of the sun on the sundial. [This also applies to the 4 seasons that make up the year which is used for farming practices.] In fact, when several months are added together, by using the new moons as your months, there are approximately 11 days lacking from the sun's 365 days. Thus, one more 'new moon' can fit within that time every so often, thus, giving us an occasional 13th month.

The Romans, however, did not bother with the moon, but only the sundial. When you have 365 days in the year that consists of 4 seasons, there are 91 days to each season. With that figure the Romans simply divided the 91 days by 3. Thus, approximately 30 days to a month on the basis of the moving of the shadow on the sundial.

Because the Romans did not follow the Hebrew calendar, they made their calendar practical in their own way. Instead of starting their year as we do, they simply started it at the Southern Hemisphere Extreme or should I say: the first day after the shortest day of the year; which is now December 21 or 22. This was the Roman [and other culture's] New Year back in the day, or 1/01.

Other pagans, not just the Romans, would celebrate on this day, the day after the Southern Hemisphere Extreme, especially the Celtic people and the old British folks, and so recognized this similar calendar as the Romans. This day was a festive day as it is to this day at midnight in the Americas and around the world. In the past, however, this was just a new year, or the returning of the sun from going south.

It was only when the Gentiles converted to a tainted faith and religion commonly called "Christianity" at the time is when things took on a new dimension. The bishops of the Catholic Church, the tainted church, where not really interested in converting folks all the way to their own Catholic faith, [versus the true faith of the Torah-observant Jew from Nazareth, which is orthodox Judaism], but simply wanted to mask pagan observances with a so-called Christian twist. Thus, they mark this day as the "Coming of the Son", versus "the returning of the sun." Therefore, because the Catholics were in charge of the Roman Empire the thing stuck. In time however, the main head of the Catholic Church, a man named Gregory.XIII decreed that the day after October 4, 1582 would be October 15, 1582.

Moreover, because these vile Catholics or so-called "Christians" observed Roman customs, they kept the keeping of time of the Roman months, regardless if the New Year did not fall any more on the day after the Southern Hemisphere Extreme. [Meaning: 1/01 of every year no longer fell on the same day when the sun was at its most Southern Hemisphere Extreme, but a few days after.] Well, there you have it in a nutshell as to why the ignorant masses celebrate Christmas. Thus, Jesus is not the reason for the season, but the ancient customs of observing a pagan New Year are. For the biblical New Year is in Spring as commanded in Exodus 12, "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you."

Therefore, you must not celebrate 'Christmas' as Jesus' birth, for this is falsehood. You would be participating with nonsense and a pagan celebration if you did this. If you want to celebrate his birth, then do so, as you would any other day. By the way, his birthday is in the Spring.

Chanukah, however, is in Winter. This is a

celebration when the Torah-observant Jews in

the 2nd Century BC overcame their oppressors

and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem after

it was defiled by the Gentiles.

In John 10, we see our precious Lord Jesus/

Yehoshua celebrating the Feast of Dedication, or

Chanukah, with his fellow brothers at the temple.

Chanukah is a celebration held in the 9th month

of the Jewish calendar, [which is in December], to

commemorate when Judah Maccabee and his

family overcame the Seleucid troops and took