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This year The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, falls on the 4th, 5th or 6th of October, depending on the moon where you are.
The Holy Day Satan Hates Most
“The devil doesn’t like any of God’s holy days, but the Day of Atonement is particularly onerous to him. How should Christians today view this day?
When I was young and just learning to celebrate God’s annual holy days, the Day of Atonement was difficult for me to appreciate. While all of God’s commanded assemblies are collectively termed “feasts” (Leviticus 23:2, 4), the one observed on the 10th day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar—the Day of Atonement—had no feasting at all!
Instead of enjoying nice food and drink as our family did on the other holy days, this day was a day of afflicting our souls by fasting. This meant we were not to eat food or drink liquids for a full 24 hours (Leviticus 23:32; Esther 4:16).
While I recall a minister teaching that this holy day was a time for feasting on spiritual food, that explanation didn’t help my empty stomach. As a tall, skinny youngster with a rapid metabolism, going without food and drink for this length of time was … well, unpleasant to put it mildly. My soul truly was afflicted—which was and is the intent of fasting.
When the seemingly extra-long day finally came to an end and my spirit revived as I ravenously partook of food and drink, I can remember feeling relieved that it would be a whole year before we would observe this day again.
So I quickly learned the “being afflicted” part of the Day of Atonement. What took me a little longer to learn was the positive meaning of this day for me and all of mankind. (Parents who are teaching their children to observe the Day of Atonement should do so by letting them fast for only part of the day—gradually longer each year until they are old enough to do it for the full 24 hours.)
The positive side of the Day of Atonement
One of the great meanings of this holy day is found in its name. It is a day when atonement is made. To atone for something means to make amends, reparation, restitution or compensation for something. This day teaches us that humanity will be offered atonement for its sins and given a chance to be reconciled to God. Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/day-of-atonement/holy-day-satan-hates/
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The Day of Atonement: Christ’s role in its meaning
“Perhaps the most unusual of the biblical feasts is the Day of Atonement. In Old Testament times, it included an elaborate ritual described in Leviticus 16. The high priest was to present two male goats, the first of which was sacrificed for the nation’s sins (verse 15). Then, after the sins of the nation were symbolically placed on the other goat, it was expelled into the desert to a life of wandering (verses 21-22).
What does the Day of Atonement reveal about Jesus Christ’s roles? Is He also at the center of this feast?
The Bible is full of rich symbolism, and the early Church came to realize that Christ was at the center of the feasts of the Lord. Just as He was described as being “our Passover” and “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), so they came to understand that He was at the center of the Day of Atonement. How? He fulfilled the role of the male goat slain for the sins of Israel and carried outside the camp (Leviticus 16:27).
We read in Hebrews 9, 10 and 13 about Israel’s sacrificial system and the Day of Atonement, with Christ being symbolized in the male goat and other animals slain on that day as sin offerings. “For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate [of the city of Jerusalem]” (Hebrews 13:11-12).
We should consider that while Christ has already been sacrificed, the atonement His sacrifice provides has not yet been applied to all of Israel and the rest of mankind. That will happen after Christ’s second coming.
Not only does the Day of Atonement depict Christ’s sacrifice for sin and His true spiritual reconciling of the people with God as High Priest, but Christ is directly involved in the symbolism of the other male goat that was cast out into the desert by a strong man (Leviticus 16:21).
The second goat, over which the sins of the Israelites were confessed, represented the instigator of those sins—none other than Satan the devil. When Jesus returns, He will command a powerful angel to bind Satan and cast him into a place of restraint for 1,000 years, exiling him from mankind just as the live goat was exiled from the Israelite camp on the Day of Atonement: “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:1-2).
So Christ plays a dual role in the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. He is sacrificed as the first goat for the purifying of the people from sin. And He acts as High Priest and will direct Satan's removal in setting up God's Kingdom.” From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/the-biblical-festivals-that-teach-us-about-jesus-christ
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How Foul Is Fowl?
Chicken and turkey are called “white meats,” as in “clean white meat,” and are considered to be health foods. The truth is fowl are filthy with a multitude of disease-causing ingredients. The horrible threat of a bird flu pandemic may cause health-conscious people to examine more closely the facts behind this traditional meal centerpiece—and we may see something like how mad cow disease, with all the emotions it aroused, caused people to rethink beef. Even though to date only a handful of people have died from either of these animal-borne infections, the fear of these two diseases could save millions of lives as people refrain from eating the more ordinary, but very lethal, parts of an animal’s tissues.
The tissues of all fowl consist primarily of artery-clogging fat and cholesterol, and bone-destroying protein and acid. They are completely devoid of energy-giving carbohydrate and bowel-moving fiber. Like “sauce on the goose” they are contaminated with deadly microbes and cancer-causing chemicals. Have I stimulated your appetite?—to learn more?
Bugs in Your Birds
Bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi found in fowl cause illness and death in humans. The most common pathogens found in commercially processed bird flesh are from their own bowel bacteria and these organisms are Campylobacter, E. coli, and salmonella. During the manufacturing processes used to bring chickens to market, “fecal soup” is created as thousands of dirty chickens are bathed together.
In one study of retail markets in the Washington, D.C. area from June 1999 to July 2000, 70.7% of chicken samples were found to be contaminated with Campylobacter, and 91.1% of the stores visited sold Campylobacter-contaminated chickens. E. coli were found in 38.7% of chicken samples.2 Approximately 14% of the turkey samples yielded Campylobacter and 11.9% were positive for E. coli. Salmonella was found in 25% of both of these white meats.
Infections with any of these three bacteria can cause symptoms very similar to the flu, like nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever, chills, weakness and exhaustion; and can be deadly for children, the elderly, and people with suppressed immune systems. Infections are caused by close contact with the carcasses of birds. Eating the flesh of birds is as close as you can get to their germ-infested tissues. Although cooking destroys most of these infectious agents, people eat, often unknowingly, partially cooked and raw meats." More at: https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/march/birdflu.htm
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Point of View
Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless
Christmas dinner's dark and blue
When you stop and try to see it
From the turkey's point of view.
Sunday dinner isn't sunny
Easter feasts are just bad luck
When you see it from the viewpoint
Of a chicken or a duck.
Oh how I once loved tuna salad
Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too
'Til I stopped and looked at dinner
From the dinner's point of view. -- Shel Silverstein
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