The MANY versus the FEW
Deceived by Benign Acquiescence
Toeing the line of religion regardless of TRUTH
An interesting title? I used this phrase in the lesson: MANY vs FEW #12: Who Do You Look Like? Did you understand it? Allow me to explain what I meant.
To acquiesce is to accept, comply, or submit TACITLY or passively. Benign is (since we’re not talking about cancer) having no significant effect or of a gentle disposition.
Benign acquiescence is to quietly, passively accept something that seems harmless, seemingly having no ill effect. I think you know where I am going with this.
Every day, we are presented with pretty, soft pictures of nice things that we love. Things that we were trained to find pretty and nice.
Santa Claus
A kind, older man with magical powers who brings toys to children. That’s pretty. It’s a great fantasy for the kids. Flying reindeer! How fun. And the toys are all handmade by little elves.
Then things go a little darker. You see, he sees you when you are sleeping. He knows when you are awake. He knows if you have been bad or good, so be good, for goodness’ sake! Then the overt threat: You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout! I’m telling you why!
Santa Claus is coming to town. And he’s coming with his bag and his sleigh and his elves and his magic…Woe to the child who has misbehaved!
We threaten our kids that they had better behave, or Santa won’t be coming to leave them a pile of stuff under the tree. We appeal to their greed and teach them avarice. We instill in their minds that doing something good must be rewarded with material possessions. We do it without thought because we were taught by our parents and force it through benign acquiescence onto the next generation. All are reinforced subliminally because on November 1st each year, the music starts again.
You’d better watch out!
I’ve said this before: Who cares what Christmas means to you. Rather, what does it mean to the One you claim to follow? The Creator, the Almighty? Do you know what He said about doing these things?
A few facts: Christmas is the MOST practiced holiday on Earth. 93% of Americans participate in Christmas. Do you know the percentage of Americans who claim to be Christians? Around 68%, which would include all sects of Christianity, even those that do not otherwise celebrate Christmas. Who do you think makes up the other 25% of those in America celebrating Christmas? Do you think it has anything to do with the birth of j-e-s-u-s?
Do you really?
Who are the FEW? Those that are His and are not of this world (even if they are in it.) Who are the MANY? Those who are indistinguishable from the rituals and practices of the world.
The year I was born, my mother purchased a star for the top of the Christmas tree. It was cool and funky and sparkled, and it was awesome! That star topped nearly every Christmas tree we ever had and became mine somewhere along the way. I loved it. I would turn off all the lights except the star and the tree lights and marvel at the luminescence of the sparkles. It was colorful and beautiful. And it had absolutely nothing to do with Messiah.
Here’s the argument: The star on the tree represents the star that led the Wise Men to the Messiah in the manger. Uh-huh… Kind of sounds almost in the same made-up vein as the magical flying reindeer when presented in the same light.
Here’s the truth: The star was placed at the top of a tree in ancient Egypt, nearly a thousand years before the Messiah, to represent Amun Ra, the Egyptian sun god. They would hang gold and silver balls on the tree to represent the god’s testicles, and the tree, representing his phallus. It was brought into the home during the season of the sun’s rebirth, the winter solstice. Sacrifices were laid at the foot of the tree and distributed to the family after the sun’s rebirth. Hieroglyphs of this have been found in several places around Egypt and are dated back to the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.
The first time I acquiesced to family pressure to use the star after coming to the truth of His Word, my cat knocked over their tree and broke the star. Providence? Who says animals don’t communicate with the Spiritual realm?
Throughout all of Scripture, Egypt represents two things: our bondage to sin and the world. When the Father takes you out of the world and releases you from the bondage of sin — when He takes you out of Egypt, He expects you to leave Egypt behind. When He is your One True Elohim, you leave the things that belong to other gods where they belong… in the past.
Then we give our kids this fantasy:
There is an egg-laying rabbit that leaves colorful, candy-filled, and chocolate eggs — as well as gross, hard-boiled eggs — all over the place for you to find and eat. An egg-laying rabbit…pffbtt…
Okay, biology… I guess, technically, female rabbits do, in a manner, lay eggs. They don’t come popping out all over the yard and are certainly not colorful (red notwithstanding), and are not chicken-egg-sized. Okay, so the technicality callers in the group score a point here: yes, female rabbits do sort of lay eggs. The rest of the fantasy is…um…ridiculous?
I guess the Easter Bunny was accepted into Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft — because he’s magic, right? I think I saw that special on Fox! … Of course, the owl that delivered the invitation ended up eating the bunny, but that was a different TV special, I think, on Animal Planet.
I love jellybeans. I voted for Reagan and consumed Jelly Bellies when they were brand new. I would still eat them today if I could get them. Although I seem to make a negative comment about boiled eggs, I love boiled eggs. And I’m a fat old man. To say I love chocolate is a gross understatement.
But what do any of these things have to do with the resurrected Messiah?
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Nothing. Absolutely nothing and less. Here’s the focus of this lesson:
They are distractions that take the focus away from the Messiah.
We teach our kids all sorts of nonsense because it is pretty and sweet, and it’s what our parents taught us. We feel it deprives our children of some special treat that we received as children if we don’t perpetuate the lies on them.
Look, if you want to scar your kids for life, tell them that they stand a 1 in 2 to 1 in 3 chance of developing cancer and a 40% chance of dying from it if they do. Tell them they stand a greater chance of being struck by lightning TWICE than they do of ever winning a Powerball jackpot. Tell them their odds of dying in a car accident are 2,000 times higher than dying in a commercial airplane crash. You could teach them what alcohol does to the liver, sugar to the pancreas, narcotics to the brain, and Tylenol to the liver! Be sure to teach them that cinnamon contains coumarin, which can thin their blood and cause them to stroke out or suffer a brain aneurysm! (This requires a significant ongoing dose, but, yes, cinnamon does contain coumarin, a blood thinner.)
Come on… Let’s get real — or not… As parents, we pick and choose what we teach our children. We selectively decide what nonsense and what truth they need in their head.
We select that which is the most benign, the most easily childlike to assimilate.
We don’t consider what it really means.
This post isn’t about the pagan roots of these things, although those roots are really important. This blog is about how the Adversary uses seemingly innocent things to obscure — even hide — what we really should be seeing.
The Father told us not to learn the ways of the nations, not ONLY because the nations worshiped fake gods made of stone, metal, wood, or whatever, but because the things they teach take your focus away from Him.
There was a conversation online about these things being “satanic” and several dissenting comments that “satanic is a bit excessive, don’t you think?”
But if these things are not of the Father AND they take the focus OFF the Father and His things, could they be considered truly benign? We passively accept pretty pictures because they are childlike and precious, and we had them as children. Before a child is two, they know — at sight — Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, witches and ghosts (Halloween), and probably the Greek god of love, Eros (Cupid in Rome), but don’t know anything about the actual Messiah from the Scriptures. They know the sweet image — Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so — a great concept, but there is so much more to that.
And for those who like to call out technicalities: Yeshua did not do it because He loved us. The Father gave Him to do it because the Father so loved His creation. Messiah did it because He loved the Father. He only does what the Father commands of Him. We are to imitate the Messiah. …NO! … Don’t get crucified.
Love the Father like the Messiah!
We arbitrarily decide for our children that they are too young for a more accurate image of the Messiah from Scripture, but feed their little impressionable minds with lies! It’s not benign. We TELL OUR KIDS LIES and defend it as a part of youth! Let me put this another way:
When — not if — they find out that all of these things are bogus, hocus-pocus, and like the coin in a magician’s hand, “Abracadabra,” those precious memories disappear as they realize all we did was LIE TO THEM.
What did they learn?
What did you learn? Did you learn that your parents lying to you was wrong? Didn’t your parents teach you not to lie?
Romans 2:21–24–21) You, then, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who proclaim that a man should not steal, <Exo 20:15> do you steal? <Deut 5:18> 22) You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” <Exo 20:14> do you commit adultery? You who abominate [idolatry], do you {worship idols}? <Exo 20:4–5>{You who abominate lying, do you tell lies}? <Deut 5:20> 23) You who make your boast in the {Ten Commandments}, through the transgression of the {Ten Commandments} do you disrespect Elohim? 24) For “The Name of Elohim is blasphemed among the nations because of you,” <Isa 52:5> as it has been written.
(I modified the end of verse 22 for this lesson and changed the word “Torah” to “Ten Commandments” since they are the central portion of the Torah that Christians — ironically — claim to accept. I put any changes in curved brackets without italics for clear identification. I am not attempting to change Scripture but to make the point clear. Had Sha’ul had to deal with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, he might have said this also.)
What do you teach your children?
What did I teach mine?
A Message for my older children:
My precious, wonderful geniuses, I love and miss you more than I can say in words. I’m sorry for teaching you lies, for teaching you that it is okay to lie, for giving you stupid, pretty pictures that obscure the truth of the Messiah and His Word.
And I promise today that I will continue to tell you the truth as I do now; I will never again tell you lies full of pretty pictures that hide the Messiah and distract you from His Word. Lies that keep you from worshiping the One True Elohim in the Way He gave us to do.
A promise to my younger stepchildren
I love you, and I won’t lie to you about stupid, pretty things that will distract you from the truth of the Messiah and the love of the Father in Heaven. While I may shield your young minds from the brutal images of His crucifixion (until you are old enough to handle it), I will not tell you lies or deliberately place anything in your path that blocks, slows, or changes your walk with Him.
A Promise to my littlest one
The lies of the past distract from the walk with Yeshua today. I will not teach you the old, false stories. I will give you the knowledge of His Word and demonstrate in my life the application (the wisdom) of His Word. When I fail, I will return to the Father in repentance and turn back to Him. I promise today before witnesses that you are a perfect gift from the Father, and I will raise you in His Word — cover to cover — and never try to sell you lies that hide Him from you.
And back to you
My fellow walkers on the Way. I say that because I hope that you are starting to hear the voice of the Spirit. I’m just a signpost. The Spirit does the talking.
Is your mind so full of stupid, pretty pictures and sweet, ear-tickling words that you are prevented from hearing His Word? From hearing His Spirit? He told us not to learn these things BECAUSE they distract us from Him. They pull us away from attention to Him. The Adversary doesn’t need you to bow down to him; he only needs you to stop bowing down to Him, YHVH. And look at all the time we spend ARGUING these stupid, pretty pictures… Distraction from HIM! Distracting us from Him are works of hasatan — making them… Satanic in nature.
As I have concluded all of these lessons, the MANY won’t let go of their stupid, pretty pictures. I guess that’s their choice.
The FEW either never had them or learned to leave them behind when the Father took them out of the world.
