"Hanukkah - Part 1"
How does the celebration of Hanukkah, a festival NOT found in the Old Testament, provide greater insight into biblical themes such as the Messiah? How is Hanukkah handled in the New Testament?
Go to "Hanukkah - Part 2".
Download or email Part 1 (~238k)
Download or email Part 2 (~222k)
Keeping the World Out of the Gospel
What happened with Greek culture? Homosexuality and bisexuality were culturally endemic and, in fact, they even had a religious trapping to it. In the temple of prostitutes the female prostitutes were called the “hieros gamos”. The “hieros delphos” was a religious clergy.
Already, in Sweden and in Canada, there are moves afoot to call the public reading of portions of the Bible that denounce sexual sin and homosexuality, such as Romans 1 or Leviticus, “hate literature”. You can read the Quran, of course, but the Bible becomes outlawed.
This is exactly what happened in the days of the Maccabees; violence was used for entertainment. Now the Bible talks a lot about violence, but it never glorifies it. It just portrays it for what it is. It says at best that it is a necessary evil, but it never glorifies it. The whole society is getting like that. How can the church be salt and light in a society when the church is going along with the culture?
“For wicked men to triumph, good men must merely remain silent.” Last April, during Lent, I was reading a copy of a Christian magazine, and they were asking various Christian leaders about their devotional reading for Lent. Nicky Gumble, the man who runs Alpha Courses, said that for Lent he was reading the works of Rowan Williams, the Druid who ordains homosexuals. This is the guy who everybody is looking at to re-evangelize Britain. Somebody who recommends books by a Druid that ordains homosexuals at Holy Trinity “Bedlam” at Brompton, and everybody thinks he is a good guy. You understand how sick this is, how eroded the standard has become? There is no stopping it. This is exactly what happened when the Maccabees came along.
The Maccabees said, “Enough is enough!” The first one they knocked off was Menelaus the collaborator. The foremost dangerous enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this country are Evangelicals who collaborate with the enemies of the cross of Christ.
This is exactly what happened in the days of the Maccabees. Those who resisted, who stood up and said this is not right, were in small groups conducting a guerrilla action. But, lo and behold, others began coming out of the woodwork and joining with them. And I’m seeing this happen all over the place. I’m seeing people who are meeting in homes because they can’t find a decent church where they live, meeting in the British legion hall or something like that.
Joined by Hypocrites
However, something else happened with the Macabees according to 2 Mac. 11:33-35: Many joined with them, but in hypocrisy. Because somebody is against what you are against does not automatically mean that they are for what you are for. People who point out what is wrong – ministries like Vanguard magazine, the Berean Call, Understand the Times, or even Moriel – any who will stand up and say this stuff is not biblical will have a problem. 90% of the people we attract are sincere; 10% are malcontents that will find fault in any church. They will just join with somebody like me as a sounding board so they can attack other things.
There are those who the only way to know what they’re for is based on what they’re against. You cannot build a church, a fellowship, or a ministry based on what you’re against. We know that stuff is off the wall, but what are we for? We know Alpha is not biblical, but what do we stand for? That’s the question.
Watch out for people that say they have discernment ministries and all they do is attack what’s wrong but they never point to what’s right. They are not into evangelism, they’re not into missions, they are not into Bible studies. Be careful of people like that. There are good discernment ministries and bad discernment ministries; there are good organizations and there are bad ones. Those who are trying to rebuild the body of Christ like Intercessors for Britain are alright. You could never base or build something on what you are against, only on what you are for.
Remember, the first and foremost defense against error is always a knowledge of the truth. However, there is a need for discernment ministry because people don’t know the truth any more. If people knew their Bibles, they would know Nicky Gumble was off. They would see through Benny Hinn or Creflo Dollar. If people knew the truth, they would discern error for themselves. But they don’t know the truth and so the defense of the faith is vital.
Those Who Have Insight
However, in the days of the Maccabees there were people just like there will be in the Last Days: Those who have insight will give understanding to the many. (Dan. 11:33) People will attend a meeting where the truth is taught and defended then obtain a copy of the tape, take it home, and make a copy of it to give it to somebody in a flaky church. Those that have insight will give understanding to the many.
In other words, when you see the Ecumenical movement, when you see the ordination of homosexuals, when you see things like this, the abomination is already being set up in the temple. Keep one eye on Jerusalem, keep the other eye on the body of Christ.
Even on the Temple Mount is a quotation out from the Quran, “Allah does not beget matters he has begotten – God has no son”. There is already an abomination on the Temple Mount and it is already in the church.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.