HAVE YOU BEEN LIED TO ABOUT CHRISTMAS?

THE HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS ARE ALL IN THE BIBLE, NOT IN A MOVIE

No it's not a gotcha moment or a misleading title, as you continue to read you'll see why. Its that time of year, where the SKEPTICS come out to try and mislead you into believing the historical accounts of Jesus have contradictions in different books. But, we are going to make our way through these well know falsities and show you why truth prevails over deception. As Ecclesiastes clearly states;

9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9

So once again the sceptics come out to post misleading and truly deviant lies, most of who haven't done their homework, but have just been led by others or just pure hatred towards God. Where do many skeptics learn their misinformation from, well a very good one is Hollywood itself, making films, and if you're a unbeliever or one that even professes to be a Christian but doesn't actually do what is commanded, and that is to read the Word of God. If you did read the Word of God, you can very easily understand the accounts written by Luke and Matthew and how they do align. Why do I say this, well we shall read all the usual posts about the contradictions in the Bible, such as Matthew and Luke as to the accounts of Jesus's birth.

Skeptics ponder perceived contradictions in the Gospel birth accounts of Jesus, as illustrated by the books of Matthew and Luke.

So what are some of these common objections or contradictions that the skeptics blurt out, here below are the three that we will go through.

• Different Order of Events

• Wrong Governor Named

• Incorrect Ancestral Line

In this blog post we will start with the first of these three, the Different Order Of Events, timeline of Joseph in Egypt, is there a contradiction between Luke's writings and Matthews, especially when it comes to the narrative of the Birth of Jesus. The Skeptic says; "If Matthew is right and they went down to Egypt for months or years, or whatever amount of time.. then how can Luke be right, that they immediately returned to Nazareth."

So if we read Matthew 2:13-15 we will see what he writes about the account of Joseph taking his family to Egypt below.

The Flight to Egypt

13) Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14) And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15) and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” - Matthew 2:13-15

Ok, so now we have read the Flight to Egypt from the Book of Matthew, he is writing that they went down to Egypt for months or years. So let's look at Chapter 2 in Luke and start with the accounts of Luke's, that they returned immediately to Nazareth.

The Return to Nazareth

39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. - Luke 2:39–40

Right, so now we have read both scriptures and the accounts to which the skeptics are talking about. So I guess we could believe they are writing about the account as precise timelines, or that they are unfolding the accounts from a different perspective or that the Skeptic is taking things out of context. Well let's dive into this now, so we see that Matthew is giving us some details and Luke is also giving us some details. So are these details contradictory or complementary details. Well you shall see that they are not contradicting but, they are actually complementary details.

So let's talk about the Book of Luke, in this Book leading up to what we are discussing here, we see the accounts about Zachariah, Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist. Then we read about the Angel visiting Mary, then when we move over to the Book of Matthew, we now see a bit about the Angel appearing to Joseph and telling him about Mary, and then we see both Gospels have the birth of Jesus.

6-4 B.C. Jesus is Born

So going back to Luke, we see the account tell us that while they were in Bethlahem the days were completed for Mary to give birth.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. - Luke 2:6

Yet the Hollywood lie, will depict Mary riding on a mule or donkey and Joseph leading them into the town, and arriving late they could not get a room in the "hotel", and yes it is a lie for this is not the true account from the Word of God, but a distorted misleading fiction to the truth.. misleading many. Why? Because as we see in Luke 2:6, the Bible is very clear, "WHILE THEY WERE THERE.."

Now we know that Jesus is born and then the Angels tell the shepard's, and then the Shepherds go to see the newborn Jesus.

8 Days Later Jesus is Circumcised

32 Days Later, They Go To The Temple For The Ritual Of The Purification

So this now being 40 day after the birth of Jesus Christ, yes that is correct 40 days. So now they're at the temple to sacrifice two turtle doves, what does the Old Testament tell us about turtle doves to the people social stance. Well let's see what it says in the word of God:

7 “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. - Leviticus 5:7

Why is this significant, well it actually tells us that they were not rich but poor, and also letting us know that the Magi "wise men" not "kings" had not arrived as of yet and therefore no gold would have been given as gifts to Mary and Joseph. So, now returning back to Matthew Chapter 2, this would plainly be seen as some days after the 40 days that the Magi arrive to Jerusalem, why Jerusalem? Because that's where they'd expect to find the King of the Jews. So they went to Harrod and as we know, he wasn't aware and called his council to ask where the prophet had said the Messiah would be born, they said Bethlehem.

2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2

So its Harrod who sends the Magi to Bethlehem, and they go to see the YOUNG CHILD, the GREEK word παιδίον (paidion) and not the greek word μωρό (moró) meaning baby. So we are now understanding it was a young child, anywhere from 1 to 2 years of age and not an infant as depicted in the Hollywood movies or other productions. Remember that once Herod knew that the Magi had not returned to him and leaving from a different direction knowing of his bad intentions, Herod became very perplexed and sought to murder all the children from infant to 2 years old. Otherwise he would have said, kill all the newborns for he would have been this as information, but it was not. So now we move onto another timeline;

Joseph, Mary & Jesus Flee To Egypt

And now we have the murdering of the babies in Bethlehem as Herod orders this horrific act, to kill the King of the Jews. Then we read in Chapter 2. The Return to Nazareth...

The Return to Nazareth

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. Matthew 2:19-22

They were originally going to head back to Bethlehem, but after the warning they went to Nazareth sometime after being in Egypt. Now, this is the very good bit as both Gospel's meet back up, see the below chart;

MATTHEW 2:23	LUKE 2:39
23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.	39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

So as we have now seen up to this point, Matthew had some information and Luke also had some information. Both of these Gospel Books align perfectly, but when someone has been mislead or has bad intention to mislead people, then we get the Skeptics posting false accounts, these can be very easily debunked. Nothing is pointing to a contradiction, but actually everything is pointing us to a complimentary set of historical facts.

We are in a fallen state, we are enemies of God as the Bible so clearly tells us. So what do we expect from a society that has completely been mislead by a naturalistic and humanistic religion. This by no means excuses anyone for their wrongdoings, as we most certainly know in our hearts there is a Creator, the proof is evident all around us. But the heart is desperately wicked as the Scriptures tells us...

9) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10) “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. Jeremiah 17:9-10

So, if this is the case and it is, how can we, being born into a natural state of enmity with God be restored or reconciled to the Maker of All Things. Well I can tell you by God's Word it isn't anything to do with us, and how we base ourselves on works.. for there is no good works you can do to cleanse yourself from the debt you owe to God. We must understand that we have ALL fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 and that the wages of sin is DEATH, Romans 6:23, and as a JUST God He must have payment, but then we see that He the Creator shows His love to us, by having Christ die for us while yet we were enemies of His Romans 5:8, and that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved Romans 10:9-10, and Romans 10:13 Affirms that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. SO I plead with you today that the proof of Jesus has more evidence than any of the best historic people of the times, the eyewitness are nothing but incredible and the science, archaeology and history of our times continually prove time and time that the Bible is flawless. So, if that is the case and it is, means if you follow another Gospel that doesn't preach the above that I have written, then you are already dead in your sins and will be in hell... yes, fear can be your best opportunity at saving your life. Cry out to the God who made all things, ask Him to show you Jesus, ask Him today for forgiveness, and repent and turn from your sins today. Jesus is truly an arm length away.....

Yours By God's Grace

Dean