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The Festivals Jesus Celebrated.
“Which days will you celebrate this year? Few give this any consideration, but you should. Some little-known holy days can help unlock benefits God wants to give you!
People lost sight of a beautiful series of holy days designed by God to remind us each year of His plan to offer salvation to each of us and all mankind.
Here are the basic facts:
When it comes to religious celebrations, most people claiming to be Christian today don’t observe the days Jesus did. Instead, they’ve accepted the decision of church leaders long ago to abandon the days of worship that Jesus and the first-century Christians observed in favor of pagan celebrations such as Christmas and Easter that were rebranded with Christian meaning centuries after Christ’s death.
Historians tell us that church leaders made these decisions in order to separate Christianity from Judaism and to make it easier for pagans to convert to Christianity. While this reasoning obviously seemed valid to those who made these decisions, the result was catastrophic.
Abandoning the biblical holy days given by God stripped mainstream Christianity of “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). People lost sight of a beautiful series of holy days designed by God to remind us each year of His plan to offer salvation to each of us and all mankind. (Read more in our free booklet From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.)
God’s festivals
Fortunately for us, the festivals of God and their rich meanings are still recorded in the Bible, and there are many people all over the world who have discovered them and observe them.
Here is a brief overview of these masterfully designed days that build upon each other in spiritual significance.
Passover: Jesus and the apostles observed this festival on the evening prior to His crucifixion, and it continues to remind us of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for our sins. This is the foundation of Christianity and begins God’s plan of salvation—a plan that will provide eternal life as members of God’s family to all who respond.
The Days of Unleavened Bread: This festival lasts for seven days and includes holy days on the first and seventh days. Christians observe these days by putting leavening—which is symbolic of sin—out of their homes to remind them of Christ’s instruction that we must put sin out of our lives to please God (Mark 1:15).
Pentecost: This festival pictures the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit, which is given to people when they repent of their sins and are baptized. The Holy Spirit empowers us to obey God’s good and beneficial laws, and it is through the Holy Spirit that we can receive the gift of eternal life.
The Feast of Trumpets: This festival is the pivot point in God’s plan of salvation. This holy day represents Christ’s return to earth, the resurrection and transformation of faithful believers into spirit, and Christ’s forcibly taking control of the nations to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth.
The Day of Atonement: This day is observed by fasting—refraining from eating or drinking to humble ourselves and draw closer to God—and pictures the binding of Satan for 1,000 years. With Satan bound, it will be easier for people who have survived the chaotic events leading up to Christ’s return to understand and choose God’s way of life.
The Feast of Tabernacles: This seven-day festival pictures the millennial reign of Christ on earth. The first day is a holy day. As the effects of Christ’s reign unfold throughout the world, all people will be given the opportunity to respond to God’s calling and enjoy universal peace and prosperity.
The Eighth Day: This concluding festival, commonly called the Last Great Day, marks the culmination of God’s plan to offer salvation to all mankind. People who lived and died prior to Christ’s return and who did not understand God’s way of life will be resurrected back to physical life to be given a full opportunity to learn about God’s plan and respond.
A promised blessing
When you trade in Christmas and Easter for the festivals of God, you’ll put yourself in position to have a richer relationship with God and an enhanced understanding of His plan of salvation for all mankind. Psalm 111:10 offers this amazing promise: “A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.”. From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/seven-feasts-of-the-lord/
More at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/biblical-festivals/festivals-jesus-celebrated/
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The Sign of Love
John 13:34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
“Why did Jesus call this a “new” commandment, when He had long before inspired Moses to write, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” ( Leviticus 19:18 )? That is the old part, but Jesus adds in John 13, “as I have loved you.” That is the new, much more challenging part. Jesus Christ willingly gave His life for us! What greater depth of love can there be ( John 15:13 )?
So, though God gives those who follow Jesus Christ and the Bible many things that make us stand out from the world, here He lists the most important one as love.
Matthew Henry put it this way: “This was what their Master was famous for; and therefore, if you see any people more affectionate one to another than what is common, say, ‘Certainly these are the followers of Christ, they have been with Jesus.’” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/the-sign-of-love/?
See “New Commandment: Why Did Jesus Give It?” For more about the spiritual gift of love, see “Love of God.”
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Why Don’t Health Insurers Encourage Healthier Eating?
Why don’t more big payors in health care embrace plant-based eating?
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
“Many of the diseases that cause a constant drain on health care budgets can be prevented by proper nutrition; so, why aren’t the big payors getting involved? I mean even like a 1 percent decline in excess body fat could alone save tens of billions. You’d think at least the health insurance industry would try to get people to eat healthier to try to pay out less money. Well, one could say the insurance industry actually benefits from high healthcare costs because these rising costs are simply passed on to both individuals and employers in terms of higher premiums, and insurers take a fixed percentage of these premiums as increasing profits. They get a piece of the pie; so, the bigger the pie—the unhealthier everyone is—the bigger their piece. As such, insurers have not done as much as they could to help reduce health care costs because lower costs would hurt their bottom line.
“What if there was a medication that could successfully treat and even reverse heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other chronic conditions without any negative side effects and offered the promise of dramatically reduced health care costs?” Imagine all the advertising there would be to promote it; imagine how much they would charge. A drug that could not just treat but cure diabetes and these other diseases? “Then, what if you were told this medication exists today, is available to everyone in unlimited quantities at a low cost, but the vast majority of the American public has never heard about it.” Do you want a solution to significantly reduce health care costs? The solution is to use food as medical treatment, specifically, foods made from minimally processed plants.
“One of the main barriers is simply the current widespread belief that once someone has a chronic condition, such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes, there is very little that can be done to actually reverse the disease, and the best outcome possible is to maintain the condition so that it just doesn’t get any worse. The fact that a whole food plant-based approach provides a safe, effective, low-cost alternative to not just eliminating symptoms but potentially reversing the underlying condition without drugs or surgery is unknown to a vast majority of Americans. In contrast to the pharmaceutical industry that spends large sums to market new drugs,…there are not big profits in promoting a plant-based diet.”
The politics surrounding healthcare is who’s-going-to-pay-for-it, instead of what kind of healthcare is best, and the evidence is overwhelming that a whole food, plant-based diet provides the best opportunity to not only reduce the growth in spending, but actually decrease total health care costs more than any drug, medical procedure, insurance reform, or provider payment model out there.
Thankfully, the word is spreading. A review of the evidence published in Kaiser Permanente’s journal concluded that “[p]hysicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity. Kaiser has followed up with user friendly guides (freely available online) for both physicians and patients, explaining the benefits and practical aspects of implementing a plant-based diet.”
So hey, why aren’t all insurers sending out such information to all their members? You know how all the drug ads are, like, “Ask your doctor if this drug is right for you.” Well, members could be prompted to ask their physicians about the ability of a plant-based diet to reduce or eliminate prescription drug use and reverse disease. Though of course, these materials would also have to list all the side effects. Side effects include: “increased energy, lower blood pressure, improved digestion, all while eating unlimited quantities of satisfying food.” Ask your doctor if plants are right for you." From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/why-dont-health-insurers-encourage-healthier-eating/? Michael Greger M.D. FACLM · August 3, 2022 · Volume 58
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