Silent Night / Joseph Mohr / Franz Gruber
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born
Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth"
I had not heard that song play, that I am aware of, for over a year, so it was strange that it would be in my mind this morning.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Zephaniah 1:
The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah:
Warning of Coming Destruction
2 "I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,"
declares the LORD.
3 "I will sweep away both men and animals;
I will sweep away the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea.
The wicked will have only heaps of rubble
when I cut off man from the face of the earth,"
declares the LORD.
Against Judah
4 "I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal,
the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests-
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the LORD
and who also swear by Molech,
6 those who turn back from following the LORD
and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him.
7 Be silent before the Sovereign LORD,
for the day of the LORD is near.
The LORD has prepared a sacrifice;
he has consecrated those he has invited.
8 On the day of the LORD's sacrifice
I will punish the princes
and the king's sons
and all those clad
in foreign clothes.
9 On that day I will punish
all who avoid stepping on the threshold,
who fill the temple of their gods
with violence and deceit.
10 "On that day," declares the LORD,
"a cry will go up from the Fish Gate,
wailing from the New Quarter,
and a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, you who live in the market district;
all your merchants will be wiped out,
all who trade with silver will be ruined.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those who are complacent,
who are like wine left on its dregs,
who think, 'The LORD will do nothing,
either good or bad.'
13 Their wealth will be plundered,
their houses demolished.
They will build houses
but not live in them;
they will plant vineyards
but not drink the wine.
The Great Day of the Lord
14 "The great day of the LORD is near—
near and coming quickly.
Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter,
the shouting of the warrior there.
15 That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness,
16 a day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the corner towers.
17 I will bring distress on the people
and they will walk like blind men,
because they have sinned against the LORD.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their entrails like filth.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the LORD's wrath.
In the fire of his jealousy
the whole world will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of all who live in the earth."
My Understanding: In v. 5, God’s indictment against his people was that they bowed down to worship him, but that they also swore by Molech, so I first of all wanted to understand who Molech was. http://molech.com/origins-of-molech-and-his-legend.html
This article suggests that Molech is associated closely with the Babylonian god of the sun and that he may be an incarnation of Nimrod, who built the tower of Babel. Nimrod was the great-grandson of Noah. Nimrod led his people to the worship of Ba’al.
In doing further research on Molech, I came across this link connecting the figure of Molech with Washington, D.C. and with the New World Order - http://www.cremationofcare.com/illu_molech.htm. Actually, Washington, D.C. is loaded with symbols of false gods from the Obelisk (reference to sun god Ra) of Washington’s monument to the temple and throne of Zeus that were replicated in the Lincoln Memorial, to the layout of the city streets and the buildings in D.C., to our Great Seal, to our money, etc. There is much information available on the internet connecting Washington, D.C. with idolatry, with the worship of false gods, with the occult and with Satanic worship.
I read in several places on Google, as well as in several Bible dictionaries that Molech means “shameful king.” Molech is associated with death and the underworld. Molech is also associated with child sacrifice. [Ref: Harper’s Bible Dictionary & The New Bible Dictionary]
The Bible Knowledge Commentary on vv. 5-7:
“Second, Zephaniah mentioned those who attempted to combine the worship of Yahweh with the worship of Molech, a form of religious syncretism. Molech was the chief god of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:33), a people east of the Dead Sea (cf. Zeph. 2:8-9). Jeremiah, a contemporary of Zephaniah, said the Jews were sacrificing children to Molech (Jer. 32:35; cf. 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). The Hebrew Malkām (Zeph. 1:5, niv marg.) is a variant spelling of ”Molech.“ To swear by a deity meant to pronounce an oath under the threat of punishment by that deity if one failed to carry out his oath. Third, the prophet spoke of others who were religiously indifferent and unconcerned about worshiping the true God (v. 6), though they may not have been worshiping other gods. 1:7. After citing three types of idolatry in Judah—the overtly pagan, the syncretistic, and the religiously indifferent—the prophet called on all of them to be silent before God (cf. Hab. 2:20) because of the imminence of the day of the Lord.”
Religious syncretism - Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term literally means "growing together.” ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Syncretism
I believe, and the Lord has shown me this a hundred times over (or more), that the Lord sees the institutional church of America in a contractual relationship with the United States Government (via 501c3 non-profit status), and he also sees this as a “syncretism,” i.e. as this bowing down to worship Almighty God but also to swear (on oath) by Molech:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I believe the Lord has been calling his people for a long time to “come out of her,” i.e. to come out from under her influence, to not be joined together with the government in partnership (501c3), to not bow to her (pledge allegiance), and to not look to her to be our savior (Republican, Democrat, Independent, Tea Party, etc.). Certainly we must abide by the laws of the land until those laws conflict with the laws of God, and then we must obey God rather than man. This worship on the roof tops had to do with it being public. I see so many people making public professions of faith in political parties and movements and in the flag, the government and the military of the U.S.A., yet few who will give such unadulterated devotion publicly to Almighty God. This is “syncretism” at its worst. God has been trying to tell us for some time that the U.S.A. is not a Christian nation but that it is founded on the worship of false gods, on idolatry, on Satanism, on the occult, and that our country is the birthplace of this New World Order which is the Beast of Revelation.
Aside from that, the song “Silent Night” is closely associated with the celebration of a holiday we call “Christmas.” It supposedly is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and yet it typifies this “syncretism” more than anything I know. Santa Claus is really the key figure on this day. Notice how much “Santa” looks like “Satan.” And, look at his characteristics:
• Knows when you are sleeping; knows when you are awake; knows when you’ve been bad or good
• He can deliver presents to all the children of the world in a single night
• He can answer all your requests for what you want – just ask him
Now, compare those characteristics to the attributes of Almighty God:
• All knowing
• Present everywhere
• All powerful
Santa is an image of Satan who wants to be God, and the purpose of combining the celebration of Christ’s birth on the same day as the celebration of Santa is to blend Christianity with pagan and with worldly practices (syncretism) and for the pagan and the worldly to overshadow the Christ. The same goes with Easter and the Easter Bunny, but not to the extent of the Santa figure who mimics the attributes of Almighty God and who steals the hearts (child sacrifice) of our children away from Almighty God to Satan and the world.
Then, there is the issue of how much the world and worldly philosophies have crept into and have been adopted by the church to where it is indistinguishable between the church and the world anymore. The church has just become a cleaned up version of what the world has to offer. We are attracting the world to the church by worldly means, so what we are attracting them to is more of the world. Instead, we are supposed to go out into the world and to be lights of the gospel in telling the world about Jesus Christ, about his death, his resurrection, his coming again, and about the sacrifice on the cross for our sins and of our need to repent of our sins of adultery, idolatry, witchcraft, etc. so that the world can come to know Jesus Christ in his fullness and can then be joined with the true church of Jesus Christ (the one not married to the federal government of the United States of America).
"Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.” [Revelation 18:4-5]
So, the “Silent Night” that God is referring to here, in this writing, is summarized well by the commentator (quoted above), so I will conclude with that quote:
After citing three types of idolatry in Judah—the overtly pagan, the syncretistic, and the religiously indifferent—the prophet called on all of them to be silent before God (cf. Hab. 2:20) because of the imminence of the day of the Lord.”
“But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him." [Habakkuk 2:20]
Silent Night, Holy Night…
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