PART ONE: THE MARK OF GOD - PAGANISM AND OUR CROSSING OVER

Jesus did not rise from the dead on Easter. He rose during the Passover on First Fruits as He was the first fruits from the dead. The date for Easter is set for the first day of the week following the first full moon that follows the spring equinox. It is based on a solar calendar and is a pagan spring festival. A sign of who we serve is the days we keep. The days we keep should be in accordance with His word. He did not rise on Easter. Do we celebrate with the Easter ham or the Passover lamb?

Genesis 11 -- God does not change. There is nothing new under the sun. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There are no “new revelations”--the word has always been the same. How do we know what is true? Go back to the feasts of the Lord and your understanding will be opened.

We are the seed of Abraham--God made him promises that are ours today. Genesis 11:31 - Terah the father of Abraham took his son Abraham, Lot, and Sarai (Abraham’s wife) out of Ur of the Chaldees and went to Haran the edge of the Babylonian empire. They were going to Canaan but didn’t quite make it. Terah was supposed to go to Canaan but he stopped at Haran in what is today Syria. In Babylon they worshipped all things--it was pantheism and they worshipped many gods. It was like star wars--the force.

When Terah died, God told Abraham to get out of the Babylonian system--all the way out. Genesis 12 - God told him to get away from his family and their religion. God told him to separate himself. Sometimes our families just will not understand and there is nothing we can do about it--we just have to obey God. We come to a crossroads and must come out. We are blessed just like Abraham when we come out. Terah only went half way. He died and God spoke to Abraham, the next generation. Abraham obeyed and separated himself from Babylon.

Abraham went to Canaan--to the promised land. So we must follow God to the promised land. In Genesis 14:13 Abraham was first called a Hebrew. Hebrew means “one who has crossed over.” In Genesis 15 God qualifies Abraham to make a covenant with Him. God will bless and multiply Abraham. Abraham believed and it was accounted unto him as righteousness.

As we arrive at Genesis 22 God has made covenant with Abraham and now was testing him by telling him to sacrifice his only son and heir Isaac. This was to take place on Mt. Moriah which is today the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Perhaps Abraham was willing to do this because he thought Isaac was the Messiah and God would raise him from the dead. Isaac was a picture of Messiah. God provided a ram--not a lamb to take Isaac’s place. At this moment Abraham would have understood Isaac was not Messiah. God greatly blessed Abraham for his obedience. Abe got the sign of the lamb.

By Exodus 12 God’s people are in Egypt and crying out for deliverance . The ten plagues on Egypt were a judgment on the God’s of Egypt. Exodus 12 is God giving us the sign of the lamb. This is where God establishes His sacred calendar for His people. Passover is the beginning of God’s redemption of His people and His eternal plan of redemption. If we understand the feasts of God, especially the fall feasts, we understand the end times. God’s sacred calendar given in Exodus 12 is the sign of the lamb.

The sacrificial lamb was split open and the entails were taken out. Then a stick was put in to spread the ribs. Another longer stick was inserted in the lamb from head to tail. This is how the lamb was cooked in an upright position. The entails were put on the head. This was called the crown sacrifice! A perfect picture of Jesus on the cross! It is Yahweh’s Passover--not the Jews Passover--but Yahweh’s. God is calling us to “cross over ”and celebrate His feasts. God is passing over because we have crossed over! We should celebrate Passover and all His feasts as they are the Lord’s permanent ordinances.

Salvation is based on grace through faith in the Passover lamb--Jesus. A mixed multitude came out of Egypt. Jews and gentiles. Ephraim and Manasseh had an Egyptian mother. There were also others mixed in--but they believed in Yahweh.

As they came out of Egypt God gave instructions to remember this day. Exodus 13:3 - They were coming out of slavery and they were to observe the Passover forever and forever tell their children why. They were to eat no leaven for seven days. We clean out leaven in our lives because Jesus was unleavened--sinless--and we want to have our sin covered by Him. This helps us remember forever. It serves as a sign on your forehead (mind) and on your hand (doing it).

This is the mark of God on us. On our forehead and on our hand. The word for mark is “owth” which means: signal, a flag or banner, a beacon, a monument, a distinguishing mark. Passover is the mark of God--out of Egypt and bondage to sin-- into Messiah! There is also a mark of the beast. Will those people will be celebrating the Lord‘s feasts? They will be celebrating pagan feasts.

They will be celebrating Jezebel’s pagan holiday. She is the Queen of the Cosmos. She is riding the political and financial beast system. Baal and Ashteroh are the heart of the world’s religious system. Jezebel rides the beast of Mystery Babylon. People get the mark of the beast because they are doing it the world’s way. It seems so much easier to do it that way!

Deut 5:12-15 is the commandment to observe the Sabbath, to keep it holy. In it no work, but we rest and remember we were slaves in Egypt. The Sabbath also marks us. We have been delivered. He has taken us out of the world. There is a way God that takes us out of the world and makes us peculiar. We have crossed over to the Kingdom of God. The world does not hold to God’s law--they are lawless.

The nation is removing God from our lives and society every day. Some pastors are too. Both say “we will not be under the law, we are free.” God is giving them their wish. They are living in lawlessness--separated from God.

When we understand the Hebraic model we get much closer to the Lord. Our eyes are opened and the scriptures are enlightened to our understanding. Passover opens the door to the Kingdom of God. The people go through the Red Sea and are “baptized”. Then at Sinai (the first Pentecost) they receive Torah--the law (instruction).

Exodus 32 - Moses delayed and the people strayed. Aaron was not abandoning the Lord--he was taking pagan imagery and applying and mixing it into Yahweh (the Golden Calf of Egypt). This is what the western church has been doing--incorporating pagan rituals and imagery into the worship of Jesus. This is not God’s way. It is Yahweh or the highway!

Exodus 34--Moses comes down and breaks the tablets--over 3,000 die that day. At Pentecost God saved 3,000. Man destroyed, God restored. God restores the tablets (Ex 34:12). He says tear down the altars, pillars, and Asherim. Moses is referring to spiritual adultery. Pillars (obelisks) are Baal’s shaft. These are the sacred pillars. We see them all over the world today. (Washington, D.C. has the largest in world). The Asherim are fertility goddesses--we don’t worship god this way! Tear them down--don’t eat at their tables!

In a pagan ritual you killed the sacrifice, drank the blood, and went to the temple to fornicate with the same or opposite sex, whatever your desires were. You then became one with that god or goddess through fornication. That is why Paul says fornication is a sin against your own body. This is the counsel of Balaam--to seduce the men of Israel. The idea was to mix with the ungodly and then seduce the men into sacrificing to idols and partake of the rituals. Israel played the harlot. They were seduced into celebrating as pagans. Psalm 106

They were under the perception that they could fornicate with the strange women and then go to God’s temple and be cleansed by the Passover blood. They thought they were saved so they could do what they wanted and just claim the blood! We cannot live in sin. We must walk in a consecrated way.

Deut 6:1-15 -- When you go in and take the land I am your God--teach your children well. Deut 6:4--Study and do. The commandments are the sign of God--be obedient. If you are obedient you will possess the land and enter His rest.

Joshua 1:6-8 -“Keep my laws.” says the Lord and “you will prosper and succeed in all you do.” Deut 12:1-32- is an exhortation to take heed. Break down the pagan alters and groves. Tammuz was the sun god who was reincarnated as a “tree that gives divine gifts”. Jeremiah 10:1-4 - The people worshipped under every green tree. The god of nature, one of the Baal’s. We are to worship God His way--In spirit and in truth. In Acts 7:43 it says they worshipped the star of Rompha which is the pagan pentagram. We cannot paganize God’s feasts. We must crossover to God.


Tomorrow: Part Two