Let No Pagan Judge You
By Maria Merola
To those who want to cling to paganism under the guise of "liberty in Christ" let's see what the Apostle Paul or Rabbi Sha'ul was talking about here in Colossians 2:
6 As ye have therefore received Messiah Yeshua the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Messiah.
*OKAY: Let's see what he means here. First he tells us to be rooted and established in the faith as we have been taught by whom? The scriptures and the Holy Spirit right? He goes on to say "beware lest any MAN spoil you" through what?
PHILOSOPHY. The Greek word for philosophy here means "the love of man-made wisdom" and this is not referring to God's wisdom we get from studying his Torah (Law).
Then Paul goes on to say not to allow any MAN to spoil you through VAIN DECEIT. Vain means empty. This is the same word used for IDOLATRY.
A dumb statue or a wooden idol or an EASTER BUNNY made of chocolate is vain and empty without meaning! So VAIN DECEIT means empty deceptive things!
Holidays that have no prophetic richness about Messiah but only point to pagan sun god worship and child sacrifice rituals are empty, vain, and deceptive!
Paul goes on to tell these former pagans in the COLOSSIAN CHURCH not to allow any MAN to spoil them with TRADITIONS OF MEN, AFTER THE RUDIMENTS OF THIS WORLD AND NOT AFTER MESSIAH!
Whatever could he mean? Traditions made up by men such as Christmas and Easter which were derived from pagan sun god worship at the Tower of Babel and they were derived after Zodiac signs, and mistletoe, Christmas trees, material things----THINGS OF THIS WORLD---MATERIALISM.
They never had anything to do with Messiah and they never will!
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Messiah:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
*OKAY: BLOTTING OUT WHAT? The HANDWRITING OF ORDINANCES.
What does he mean by this?
The Greek word here for ORDINANCE= MAN MADE DECREE or DOGMA.
Paul is talking about man made rules and regulations---not God's commandments! What was AGAINST US? TRADITIONS OF MEN!
Why did Messiah have to nail them to the cross? Because these man made ORDINANCES were against us, and put us under BONDAGE to man instead of whom? MESSIAH!
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ/Messiah.
*OKAY: Because Messiah already spoiled principalities and powers (demons) and he made an open show of them and triumphed over them, THEREFORE---
LET NO MAN JUDGE YOU IN MEAT OR IN DRINK OR IN RESPECT OF WHAT?
A HOLY DAY!
Are Christmas and Easter considered HOLY TO GOD? NO!
So what is Paul talking about here? HOLY DAYS---NOT PAGAN SUN GOD FESTIVALS!
So why is he telling us not to allow man to judge us?
Because we are free to keep the Holy Feast Days of Yehovah according to the leading of the Holy Spirit and not according to man made traditions or the TALMUD/ORAL LAWS of the religious leaders.
Paul is saying that the HOLY DAYS ARE A SHADOW PICTURE OF GOOD THINGS TO COME.
HAVE THEY COME YET?
Not all of them have come yet!
What is left?
1.) Day of Trumpets - Resurrection of the Saints, Yom Teruah
2.) Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur, Day of Wrath.
3.) Feast of Tabernacles - Sukkot , we tabernacle, or dwell with him 1,000 years.
4.) Sabbath Millennial Reign - New Body, Rest for the Body, 7th Day or Millennium.
THESE ARE A SHADOW OF GOOD THINGS TO COME!
We are commanded to rehearse for them FOREVER, THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS!
BUT THE BODY IS OF CHRIST?
This phrase throws people because the King James Translators added the word "is" into the text for emphasis.
It is supposed to say BUT THE BODY OF CHRIST/MESSIAH without the "is" in the sentence.
So what is Paul talking about? Let me paraphrase what he is saying:
"LET NO PAGAN JUDGE YOU FOR KEEPING HOLY DAYS, BUT THE BODY OF MESSIAH IS ALLOWED TO JUDGE YOU IN THESE MATTERS."
Paul tells us that we are not to judge those outside the household of faith but we are to judge those INSIDE THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH:
1st Corinthians 5:
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
The Body of Messiah is allowed to JUDGE US IN REGARD TO HOLY DAYS! But Pagans are not!
But is Paul saying it is okay to keep PAGAN FESTIVALS TO THE SUN GOD AND THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN?
Does God change? Didn't he hate these things in Jeremiah 10, Ezekiel 8, and all over the scriptures? Did he change his mind now?
So what is he saying in the next verse?
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Messiah from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances.
If you are dead to the world, the worship of nature and the elements such as astrology signs, misletoe, Christmas trees, Easter eggs, fertility rites, and all of these nature worshipping customs i.e. WICCA etc, then why are you SUBJECT to them now?
After Messiah spoiled all of the POWERS AND PRINCIPALITIES that are behind these pagan customs, why would you want to go back under them again?
21 Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using ; after the commandments and doctrines of men?
*OKAY: So it is obvious that Paul is talking about COMMANDMENTS AND DOCTRINES OF MEN, here not God's Torah which abides FOREVER!
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
If God says that his HOLY DAYS AND CONVOCATIONS SHALL YE OBSERVE FOREVER THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS, he really means it!
His words shall NOT PASS AWAY!
So why does Paul say "touch not, taste not, handle not"?
Because in paganism there are a lot of false pious things done to make one appear holy.
For instance:
1.) The FORTY DAYS OF WEEPING FOR TAMMUZ (called Lent in Catholicism).
This custom involves fasting for 40 days for Tammuz and
weeping for him. He is the reincarnation of Nimrod
(supposedly) on December 25th. Read about this in the
8th chapter of Ezekiel. God was and still is very angry
about it.
2.) ABSTAINING FROM MEAT ON GOOD FRIDAY FOR THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN.
Catholicism teaches that Mary, the mother of Jesus participated in the sacrifice of the cross. They gave her the title "Queen of Heaven" after the pagan fertility goddess from Babylon (Jeremiah 44). The Roman Emperor Constantine changed the statue of Venus (her Roman name) to "Mary" in the 3rd century.
Hence the day of the week Friday in Italian is "Venerdi" named after Venus. On Good Friday, Christians are unknowingly honoring Venus aka "Mary" Queen of Heaven!
Yeshua died on Wednesday at sundown in 30 A.D. That year Passover fell on a Wednesday:
Wednesday sundown - Thursday sundown = 24 hours
Thursday sundown - Friday sundown = 48 hours
Friday sundown - Saturday sundown = 72 hours
Hence, "Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth!" Yeshua resurrected at sundown as the Sabbath was ending, not Sunday morning for the pagan sun god!
This is called "Havdalah" by the Jews, meaning "exiting the Sabbath." This is why Yeshua said "I am Lord of the Sabbath."
Sunday morning is when the women went back to find him gone from the tomb. Had they gone there on Saturday night, they would have been arrested.
If Jesus had died on "Good Friday" he would only be in the heart of the earth 1 day! That would make him a liar!
So, why do Catholics abstain from eating meat on "Good Friday"? Many of them do not know this, but it is secretly being done for the Queen of Heaven---not Jesus!
This is another FALSE PIETY MADE TO SEEM HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS BUT MAN MADE!
How do we know that this is what Paul is talking about?
23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Look what he just said "they have a show of wisdom" by appearing to neglect the body but there is no honor in them.
They only serve to satisfy the flesh by making one feel like they are somehow more holy or righteous because they did these religious man made traditions.
Paul talks about the same thing to the Church at Galatia.
Galatians 4:
8
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
* here it becomes obvious that Paul is speaking about pagan practices. He says, "before you knew God, you worshiped nature, and false gods..."
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
* he asks them "how can you turn back to these elements after knowing God"? What does he mean by "elements"?
In the Zodiac, there are 4 elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth.
These pagan Zodiac signs are based on worshipping the created things in nature, which God commands us not to do.
At the Tower of Babel, they worshipped the stars, the moon, the sun, the elements in nature! They derived pagan festivals patterned after the worship of these elements.
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
In summary, the next time someone tries to use Colossians 2 and Galatians 4 as an excuse to practice pagan sun god festivals, (Christmas, Easter, Halloween etc.) or to build a case against God's Holy Days, now you know that we are to allow no "pagan" to judge us in these matters. Only the Body of Messiah who are observing his commandments are qualified to judge one another in how we keep God's feasts.