Tuesday, December 28, 2004

The Reason for the Season



On this date 2 years ago, all of the family and friends of my grandfather, the late Bishop Sam Scott, assembled in front of the house on Liberty Street in El Dorado, Arkansas before we made that short ride over to the church for the funeral services. I served as a pallbearer along with 5 other grandsons of Big Daddy. For those who have yet to have that front row funeral experience, all I can tell you is to get ready, because seeing a person who was an integral part of you being on earth lying still in a casket will make some strange feelings run through your body. I’ve never been one prone to emotional outburst, but this was a completely different experience. There’s an energy that can run through your soul during sensitive moments like funerals that words cannot express. Some folks scream, some yell, some pass out and others just do like I did and cry silently.

The weird part is, is that the tears were not necessarily a product of the uncertainty of death, but I was really mourning all of the memories that I had shared with my grandfather almost like a flashback highlight reel going through my mind. But it really got on that other level when towards the end of the flashback moments, when I looked in the casket I didn’t see Big Daddy, I saw myself. The reality is that we ALL must pass that way one day, that’s for sure.

And when my cousin Jamar got up and sang a spirit filled rendition of “My Soul Has Been Anchored in the Lord”…it was almost like my whole being was elevated to a higher level of consciousness and all I could do was cry. Of course, I wasn’t the only one who felt it, because almost the whole church was crying or shouting by the time Jamar got finished.

Being around your family, the people who share your lifetime of memories, of family reunions and those times when we spent Christmas in Arkansas, made me more convicted in preparing myself for my day to be on display in a casket. Bottom line is, no matter what your accomplishments might be in this world, when it comes down to that time you take that last breath, if your soul is not anchored in the Lord, where will you go?

Of course, when you ask that question to the general public, you’ll get thousands of different answers with the expected agnostic pragmatic responses, ‘Ain’t nobody here that has been dead and came back, so no one really KNOWS what happens when you die.’ People are skeptical of the Bible for various reasons. Some inherited a predisposition against Jewish people, “I ain’t about to believe something that God said would be given to us by JEWS!” From anti-Semites to atheist, there is a multitude of folks who don’t believe the Bible at all, then there’s some who believe parts of it while ignoring or overlooking the things in it that just doesn’t sit right with them. The one thing about the Bible that sets it apart from any other published work is all of its prophecies, which have come true.

Let's take a look at this book that so many have rejected.. It was written over a 1500 year time period, by over 40 different authors, on three different continents, and in three different languages. It contains over 2000 prophecies that have been fulfilled without error, and it gives one message. (John 5:39) There are no inerrant prophecies (Deuteronomy 18:22) in the writings of Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tse, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, the Vedas, the Book of Mormon, or any other religious or secular book in the world. (Isaiah 46:9-10) All religions also attack the deity of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12) and teach a salvation by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Before Israel even became a nation, Moses predicted that Israel would become a great nation, would rebel against God, and would be scattered over the ENTIRE earth, and be brought back into the land before the second coming of their Messiah. (Deuteronomy 28) In 1948, 3000 years later, it happened! The Egyptians, Caanites, Phoenecians, Babylonians, Persians, Grecians, Romans, Spainards, Turks, Germans, English, and the combined Arab world have tried to eliminate Israel, but the Bible prophesied that Israel would exist forever, (Jeremiah 31:35-37) The Bible predicted that Egypt (like Israel) would exist throughout history, but only as a very poor nation.

There are at least 300 prophecies that deal with Jesus as the Messiah, all written at least 400 years before He came. Liberal scholars denied these prophecies; claiming that the Bible record was inaccurate or that it could have been changed or rewritten. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls silenced the critics when a complete Book of ONE Isaiah (Matthew 15, Luke 4) was found without one single change or discrepancy! This amazing Book of Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would (1) be virgin born (7:14), (2) have a forerunner--John the Baptist (40:3-5), (3) be worshipped by wise men with gifts (60:3),(4) be called a Nazarene (11:1), (5) be filled with God's Spirit (11:2), (6) be a minister to the Gentiles (9:1-2; 42:1-3), (7) be a healer of multitudes (51:4), (8) speaks in parables (6:9-10), (9) His miracles would not be believed (53:10), (10) be rejected by His own nation (53:3), (11) be scourged and spit upon (50:6), (12) be crucified between two thieves (53:12), (13) be buried with the rich (53:9),and (14) be given the eternal throne of David. (9:6-7)

Many skeptics claim that these prophecies are not very "specific." However, these prophecies predicted the entire life and ministry of Jesus Christ--from His virgin birth to His resurrection. For example, they predicted that Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) from the seed of a woman (Genesis 3:15), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), at approximately the close of the sixty-nine sevens of years (Daniel9:25). They prophesied that wise men would adore Him (Psalm 72:10), that all the infants in Bethlehem would be massacred (Jeremiah 31:15), and that baby Jesus would return to Egypt (Hosea 11:1). They foretold that He was to be introduced by a messenger--John the Baptist (Malachi 3:1), His ministry would be in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1), and that He was to be a worker of miracles (Isaiah 35:5). They predicted that He was to ride into Jerusalem on a colt (Zechariah 9:9), be rejected (Isaiah 53:3), be betrayed for the exact price of 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12), and the money was to be thrown into the potter's field. (Zechariah 11:13). He was to be beaten (Micah 5:1), spit upon and scourged (Isaiah 50:6), nailed to the cross (Psalm 22:16), mocked (Psalm 22:7-8), and given gall and vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21). They predicted His intercession for His murderers (Isaiah 53:12), yet he was to be patient and silent during His suffering (Isaiah 53:7). Psalm 22:1 predicted His exact words on the cross 400 years before crucifixion was even invented.

Other predictions were that His garments would be parted and that soldiers would cast lots for them. (Psalm 22:18). He was to be numbered with his transgressors (Isaiah 53:12), to die (Isaiah 53:12), and His bones were not to be broken (Psalm 34:20). He was to be pierced in His side (Zechariah 12:10), to be buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9), resurrected (Psalm 16:10), and to ascend (Psalm 68:18) to the right hand of God. (Psalm 110:1) to exercise His priestly office in heaven (Zechariah 6:13).

The Bible is all the way real mane, it’s stood the test of time and it’s the bread of life that is a daily source of nourishment for millions of believers around the world. Folks who have anchored their soul in the Lord keep their ‘sword’ by their side at all times. Because no matter what it is you’re reading or listening to, unless you’re deep off into that Word, you’re subject to be mislead by false teaching. It’s events such as the passing of a loved one that will make you thirst to know God for yourself and it’s times such as the Christmas holiday season that will make you reflect on the REASON that we’re celebrating. A lot of folks get caught up in the hype of Christmas, because that’s when retailers make their most money, which in turn causes the skeptics to raise their eyebrows and smirk in derision at the Christian faith, with some even mocking us for celebrating a ‘pagan’ holiday.

December 25th has been the observed birthdate of Jesus since the 1st century, but it’s not because of anything that’s in the Bible. The Bible does not specifically speak of Christ’s actual birthdate and it’s something that the Church never celebrated until around 300 A.D. The reason we use this particular date (Dec. 25) has a lot to do with pagan sun worshippers.


You see, the earth revolves around it’s axis at a tilted angle. In the middle to latter part of December, the Northern Hemisphere has the winter solstice, which literally translates to ‘sun stands still’. It’s the shortest day of the year with the most tilt (23.5 degrees) away from the vertical axis; and after that day, the sun begins to climb into the sky at a higher angle, thus giving us longer hours of sunlight. It was during this time that the pagan worshippers used to worry that the sun would eventually burn out and they recognized the winter solstice as the day when the sun was reborn and began to show up more in the day, thus they had feasts and festivals to celebrate this occasion. When you look at historical monuments such as Stonehenge or Newgrange in Ireland, you’ll see that they were built in such a way that they illuminated this astrological phenomena as the winter and summer solstices.

An utterly astounding array of ancient cultures built their greatest architectures -- tombs, temples, cairns and sacred observatories -- so that they aligned with the solstices and equinoxes. Many of us know that Stonehenge is a perfect marker of both solstices.


But not so many people are familiar with Newgrange, a beautiful megalithic site in Ireland. This huge circular stone structure is estimated to be 5,000 years old, older by centuries than Stonehenge. It was built to receive a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on winter solstice. So then when the early church started to become more involved in government and determining laws, the date December 25th was chosen as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, so it kinda gave both the pagans and the Christians a reason to celebrate during this time of year.

Of course, Christmas trees, presents, Santa Claus and all that other stuff ain’t in the Bible either, that’s just part of other traditions that filtered into the church. So yeah, there are a lot of non-believers as well as a lot of Christians who do not ‘celebrate’ Christmas. But once you are convicted in your faith in Him, you can see more clearly through the traditions and shortcomings of man, and just enjoy the season, because no matter WHAT date Jesus was born on, you’re just happy He came. Ya feel me?