Re: Paul and the Feast Days: the thing about Paul is an interesting one- In the book 'Sketches from the Life of Paul' the situation is made clearer than in 'Acts of the Apostles' in the conflict series.

The problem is seen in these verses:

 Ac 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

 

Ac 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

 

It was hard for the people in the early Christian Church to accept the change in dispensation- all their lives they had been taught the importance of ceremonies and feasts and now the were told these had no more purpose and were to be discarded. They did like many today are doing--they said, "Well Jesus did not tell us it was wrong to keep them--and we get good opportunities to 'witness' when we attend them." It was especially hard for the ex-priests to admit that what they had been so painstakingly trained to do all their lives - now had no meaning.

 

Actually- this was how the Roman church idea really got started, through the desire to mix tradition and ceremony with the word and to cling to a dispensation that was no longer in place and had been removed by God. (The torn curtain in the temple made that very clear!!)

Paul had a severe problem with the Jewish Christians - including the disciples. They did not like to accept that after the stoning of Stephen the division between Jew and Gentile was no longer recognized by God. They were not all that happy about Paul preaching to the gentiles and bringing them into the church. If they could have kept the separation wall many would have liked that better.

It was one of the reasons that God had to allow the Jewish Temple to be totally destroyed--because the early Christians were hanging around it and not spreading out to carry the gospel to the world.

Paul was looked upon with suspicion and resentment by many in the early church and especially those who wanted to blend the old traditions with the gospel. (Putting the new wine into the old bottles) He had fought this for years, everywhere he went the Jews followed him and made trouble, even trying to have him killed and to have this resentment from his Jewish-Christian brethren was a hard and unfair burden to this faithful man.

Look at what that wicked bunch in the early church actually did to Paul--here he was coming to Jerusalem, he was a wanted man--a price was on his head-The Jews thirsted for his blood!- and instead of treasuring him and protecting his well-being, they listened to his stories of the wonderful progress in the mission fields and then as much as said- 'Well that is fine Paul but let's get to the point--we want you to go along with some of our bunch who are still keeping the feast-days and we want you to pull a lot of money from your personal purse, (which he had earned by hard manual labor) and pay for ceremonies for these guys and go along with them so you prove that the law is still OK to be kept." They even told him to go and MAKE THE ARRANGEMENTS WITH THE PRIEST!! In this way there was nothing worse they could have done to put his life in danger and they didn't care a twit about that!! Satan was guiding them, not the Lord.

Now Paul should not have agreed to do it-but after years of fighting with them over these things and having a deep desire to be accepted and have peace with his brethren, he weakened and gave in.

But this resulted in his nearly losing his life and only by the Lord having him arrested and taken into custody by Rome, could Paul's life be spared.

These early Christians lost much with their foolishness--they never saw Paul again. God removes people sometimes when His people fail to appreciate His gift.

Paul was raised a Jew and he loved his people- he wanted to be at Jerusalem for the feasts because the Jews gathered from all over the world to attend and no better place could be found to meet and talk to Jews than at those times--but to go and actually take part in a ritually cleansing ceremony was a big mistake and the sin was even more on the people who urged him top do it!!

Once the Temple was removed, most early Christians got the idea and left the ceremonies behind. But some, which Paul referred to as the Mystery of Iniquity, wanted that priestly hierarchy  and the ceremonies and feasts and rituals and eventually that led to the Roman Church, who also combined pagan and Jewish ceremonies with Christian names and created Satan's greatest masterpiece-- the RCC!

Always remember that ALL false religions are Satanic counterfeits of the true!

So by deciding to go back to Protestant ideas, Catholic holidays and even ancient Jewish feasts, our people are allowing the Mystery of iniquity to walk in and flaunt itself in the face of the Saviour- to keep the feast days is to deny Christ's sacrifice, ministry and atonement!

 

temcat