~ A Family Affair ~

Today is Monday, November 29, 2004. Many people believe that just because the idol-worship holidays of our day are a time for families to get together and have fun together, that this makes it alright. But is this according to truth? Let the Word of God say. He is the only one who knows what is sin and what is not.

Jer 44:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 44:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, 44:3 Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

This Scripture picks up at a time when God had destroyed Judah and the few who remained after they had been taken into Babylon, had gone back into Egypt. God has sent Jeremiah to tell them that the very reason they were destroyed was because of their worshipping idols and burning incense to other gods. You may think these idols are totally different from the holidays you keep today. But no. They are the very same idols. Their names were changed but the customs remained the same. So when you do any of these foolish things, you are guilty of the very same sins Judah and Israel were guilty of -- that of worshipping idols and burning incense and sacrificing your children to these idols.

Jer 44:4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. 44:5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

Now here God told them that he had often sent his prophets to them and told them not to do this abominable thing which God hates. God hates your worshipping idols in any form. They had been warned. You today have been warned. God has sent me over and over to tell you to repent of this your evil idol worship. You today will not heed the warning just as those people of old would not. You love your idols more than you love God or your country or family. I will show you why:

Jer 44:6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day. 44:7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; 44:8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

Now don’t you see that God said he would destroy everyone, men, women and children because of this great sin? So why will you continue year after year full of your wicked idol worship?

Jer 44:9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Now see that the entire nation was guilty of this sin? The fathers, the kings and their wives all committed idol worship in the land of Judah.

Jer 44:10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. 44:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. 44:12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. 44:13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: 44:14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape

. Jer 44:15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 44:16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. 44:17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. 44:18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

Jer 44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

Now here again it is made clear that the entire kingdom from the king on all the way down to the least had all been involved in this thing of worshipping the queen of heaven. Notice the women said, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? In other words, the entire FAMILY was involved right here together in this making merry and get-together.

Now you all know as well as I do that our parents made cakes and coffee or cola or tea, on X-mass eve night, ate those cakes and drank that drink in honour to this idol, Santa Clause. He was a mixture of Baal and Woudin, [a Santa from Germany.] They told us old Saint Nick [Satan] ate those cakes. This is fully a copy of this idol worship here in Jeremiah, for they carried this tradition right on down through all of time. The Catholic Church brought this queen of heaven idol right into the false church and called her Mary to deceive you. So you are just as guilty as they are. Your little silly ‘nativity’ scenes each year, with your idols, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, are this same idolatrous devil-worship! Those statue are not of God! Nothing in God’s Word commands you to do this foolish mess. So it is sin. It is idol worship. You are guilty. You are being warned.

They claimed that in serving this idol queen, they had been blessed. You say the same thing = when you go to the fake church mess, you are blessed. You think God blesses you for your X-mess junk. You claim it is a great family time together. You claim you are celebrating the birth of the Son of God. It is all this evil queen of heaven worship.

Jer 44:20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, 44:21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? 44:22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

Notice it is stated AGAIN that the entire family and kingdom was involved in this evil idol worship. It was not an isolated thing. He told them that God remembered this evil and He could not bear it any longer, so he made their land a desolation and a curse, without an inhabitant. People, do you think God is any less angry over this entire nation of America [of course the rest of the world is guilty also] but for now I am dealing with America. Do you think God is pleased or not angry with the way this entire nation, and especially the Churches, calling themselves God’s people, are so over-abundantly involved right today with this same evil idol worship? Do you wish to see us left desolate and without an inhabitant? Why do you think God will bear it with you and He would not bear it with them? You are worse, for you were brought into Grace, and the blood of Jesus. You are trampling this grace for idol worship. Your punishment will be greater than theirs was. Your making it a FAMILY AFFAIR is not going to cause God to accept this evil idol worship.

Jer 44:23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day. 44:24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: 44:25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows. 44:26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth. 44:27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.

Now here these people refused God’s last warning to them and refused to obey him. They said they would continue to worship this queen of heaven no matter what God said or what it cost them. America, you are in the same mind. You refuse correction. You would rather lose this land, let it be desolate without an inhabitant than to obey God and give up your idol worship.

A Family Affair:

Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

Jer 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

God told Jeremiah here NOT to pray for this people, for I will not hear. Why? Why is God so angry at this people?

Jer 7:17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

The children gathered the wood.

The fathers kindled the fire.

The women kneeded their dough and made cakes to the queen of heaven and they poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke God to anger.

Now look at your X-mass mess. It is a FAMILY AFFAIR. Everyone is involved. You sacrifice money which should go for the welfare of the family. You must have the X-mass parties, the CAKES AND DRINKS. The drunken parties, the family dinners are ALL CAKES AND DRINKS POURED OUT TO THIS IDOL. You merry making, your gift giving is ALL IN SACRIFICE TO THIS IDOL.

You are GUILTY. You are being WARNED. God told me to write this message to you today. It is His Word I am quoting to you. You are GUILTY. This thing being A FAMILY AFFAIR does not sanctify this idol worship nor make it right.

In fact, it makes it worse. If some of you refused this evil and prayed and sought God, it might make a big difference. But since everyone is in agreement to worship these idols, you will perish.

Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? 7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

You will try to say this is not the same thing. Yes it is. Go into history and trace it all the way down to our day. It is the very same thing. Go into the Word of God and try and find even one reference to any of this kind of stuff as coming from God. You cannot do that. You cannot find one place God ever commanded or justified any such mess. You cannot find where any of the true people of God ever did these things. God was always angry at people who did these things. He has destroyed many kingdoms because of this very kind of stuff. Why will He be any different with you? He will not.

Your early sun-rise mess you do on another queen of heavens’ days is just idol worship. It is not taught anywhere in God’s Word. It is devil worship. These idols are all devils. Your egg hunts on this same foolish day, of queen Estor and her son, is this same idol worship. Her name was changed from country to country, but it was always this same queen of heaven. All this food is offered and drinks are offered to worship just as it was then. Oh I know you try to deceive yourself into thinking it is all different today. But it is just lies. God will soon destroy all of you without inhabitant, for you refuse to hear, you refuse to repent and give up this evil devil-worship mess.

Yet you try to justify it and deceive all others into thinking it is wonderful, because the entire family gets into this and has a big get-together. But see that the entire family was also involved in the ancient people’s idol worship? Did that cause God to accept it? Of course not.

Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

See here. They do these things right in their churches. They call this the Lord’s house, but they are polluting it. They set their abominable X-mess trees right there in the church. They exchange their gifts right there in their church. They even bring in their idol, Santa, to make merry and ho-ho, right there in their church. Such an abomination!

Isa 37:19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

Now when you see all the many idols around you, the ‘marys and josephs, and jesuss, and donkeys, and trees, and lights, and mangers, skeletons, santas, and all such mess’, then know that they are all idols, the works OF MEN’S HANDS.

They are all GRAVEN images, which God forbids. So how did you get around to justifying these things, just because it is a big FAMILY AFFAIR? Just because it is a big CHURCH AFFAIR, how does this justify it?

By: Jo Smith