Thoughts and ramblings of a man gone from wrath to righteousness.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
It's me
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
How would you react if someone stole your Christmas tree & your presents?
I am so sorry about the “Grench” that, on the surface looks like he, stole your Christmas. This time of year, the “Grench” is hard at work all over the world. His ambition is to kill, steal and destroy as much of the “Reason for the Season” as possible. He has been around for a long time. Why, he was even setting up his act as far back as 73 BC, when Judaea was part of the Roman Empire.
Judaea was ruled (under Roman control) from Jerusalem by a popular Jewish family, the ultra-religious Hasmonaeans, who were direct descendants of King David. That was the year Herod was born. He was born to Arab father who was the prime minister and a diplomat right up there with Winston Churchill. He was even on a first name bases with Julius Caesar, who granted him Roman citizenship, the empire’s greatest honor. His mother was a princess from the city of Petra, which is now Jordan. So, you see Herod wasn’t even Jewish, he was an Arab.
Hanging on to his father coat tails, he climbed the political ladder in Rome. During his climb he became good friends with Mark Antony. Now, Mark was in charge of the eastern Mediterranean, which included Judaea. It seemed that Mark was more a lover than a fighter, because while he and Cleopatra were messin’ around in Egypt, he put Judaea and the rest of his little world on ignore and lost it to the Parthians.
After the over throw, Herod ran!!! He headed straight for Rome where he was given the title of “King of the Jews” by none other that Mark Antony, who was the second most powerful man in Rome, go figure. With Roman’s full military support, and three years Herod took back Judaea for Rome and became its King.
All was well in his kingdom, for about 34 years. Then the wise men show up. Image these guys showing up with very expensive gifts for “...the one who was born to be the King of the Jews? We saw his star rising and have come to worship him.” Herod figured it out right off, they weren’t talking about him. After all he was “The King of the Jews”. Straight away he “… gathered all the chief priests and scribes and tried to find out from them where the Messiah was supposed to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this: ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah. A leader will come from you. He will shepherd my people Israel.’
Herod was infuriated, but coy. “As he sent them to Bethlehem, he said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, report to me so that I may go and worship him too.’”
Herod’s troops advanced on Bethlehem, but God had warned Joseph in a dream and the holy family escaped to Egypt. As for the wise men, they had left Judaea by another route, conveniently avoiding Herod. Herod had been outwitted.
“Then seeing that he was mocked by the wise men, Herod was greatly enraged, and sending his soldiers out , he killed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he exactly asked from the wise men.”
So, you see even 2000 plus years ago, the “Grench” tried to kill, steal and destroy the celebration of Jesus’ birth. After 2000+ failed attempts, you’d think he would get it by now. It just can’t be done.
I know that this will be a Christmas you will always remember. How you remember it, is the key. I am praying to my Heavenly Father that it will turn out to be the best Christmas you ever had. I don’t know how that is going to happen, but I am believing that it will.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace; both now and ever more. (So be it!)
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1 comment:
How would you react if someone stole your Christmas tree & your presents?
I am so sorry about the “Grench” that, on the surface looks like he, stole your Christmas.
This time of year, the “Grench” is hard at work all over the world. His ambition is to kill, steal and destroy as much of the “Reason for the Season” as possible. He has been around for a long time. Why, he was even setting up his act as far back as 73 BC, when Judaea was part of the Roman Empire.
Judaea was ruled (under Roman control) from Jerusalem by a popular Jewish family, the ultra-religious Hasmonaeans, who were direct descendants of King David. That was the year Herod was born. He was born to Arab father who was the prime minister and a diplomat right up there with Winston Churchill. He was even on a first name bases with Julius Caesar, who granted him Roman citizenship, the empire’s greatest honor. His mother was a princess from the city of Petra, which is now Jordan. So, you see Herod wasn’t even Jewish, he was an Arab.
Hanging on to his father coat tails, he climbed the political ladder in Rome. During his climb he became good friends with Mark Antony. Now, Mark was in charge of the eastern Mediterranean, which included Judaea. It seemed that Mark was more a lover than a fighter, because while he and Cleopatra were messin’ around in Egypt, he put Judaea and the rest of his little world on ignore and lost it to the Parthians.
After the over throw, Herod ran!!! He headed straight for Rome where he was given the title of “King of the Jews” by none other that Mark Antony, who was the second most powerful man in Rome, go figure. With Roman’s full military support, and three years Herod took back Judaea for Rome and became its King.
All was well in his kingdom, for about 34 years. Then the wise men show up. Image these guys showing up with very expensive gifts for “...the one who was born to be the King of the Jews? We saw his star rising and have come to worship him.” Herod figured it out right off, they weren’t talking about him. After all he was “The King of the Jews”. Straight away he “… gathered all the chief priests and scribes and tried to find out from them where the Messiah was supposed to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this: ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah. A leader will come from you. He will shepherd my people Israel.’
Herod was infuriated, but coy. “As he sent them to Bethlehem, he said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, report to me so that I may go and worship him too.’”
Herod’s troops advanced on Bethlehem, but God had warned Joseph in a dream and the holy family escaped to Egypt. As for the wise men, they had left Judaea by another route, conveniently avoiding Herod. Herod had been outwitted.
“Then seeing that he was mocked by the wise men, Herod was greatly enraged, and sending his soldiers out , he killed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he exactly asked from the wise men.”
So, you see even 2000 plus years ago, the “Grench” tried to kill, steal and destroy the celebration of Jesus’ birth. After 2000+ failed attempts, you’d think he would get it by now. It just can’t be done.
I know that this will be a Christmas you will always remember. How you remember it, is the key. I am praying to my Heavenly Father that it will turn out to be the best Christmas you ever had. I don’t know how that is going to happen, but I am believing that it will.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace; both now and ever more. (So be it!)
Odessa,
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