This is a time during Winter to ponder certain themes: end of cycle, beginning and ending, Alpha and Omega, "at a time you think not," and pagan "cares of life" when the Messiah lived 20 centuries ago. There is a pagan cycle which ends this month which few people know about since it is very obscure and unknown by the many. This was on the calendar invented and implemented by Julius Caesar and used in Christ's lifetime. Well known then. The Julian Calendar. A rival calendar to the Torah (Creation) Calendar, it was replaced long ago by the Gregorian Calendar.

   When the Messiah of Israel, Christ the Lord, lived there were 2 times in Winter for widespread dangers of misbehavior and sinning with "the cares of life" of "drunkenness" and "dissipation" (carousing). The first was at the Saturnalia. The second was New Year's Eve and Day on the Julian Calendar. What is "dissipation" or "carousing" in definition? It is alcohol fueled sexual immorality, sexual acts with someone who is not one's heterosexual spouse. The Gregorian Calendar is 13 days ahead of the Julian Calendar, which means that New Year's Eve will be 1-12 and New Year's Day will be 1-13 on the Julian Calendar in 2018. Christ did not live under either Gregorian or Hillel Calendars, since they did not exist yet. Was He giving a date specific warning about  Wintertime danger periods of Saturnalia and New Year's Eve on the Julian Calendar? Or was it a general warning, for any day of the year?

   The concept of widespread celebration for pagans at New Year's Eve originated at Babylon. However, the Romans also considered it quite important. The featured god was the 2 faced Janus. One face looked backward to the past (the end of annual cycle and the old year) while the other face looked forward toward (future cycle and the new year). This year the date of New Year's Eve and Day on the Julian Calendar will be the 7th Day Shabbat, the Day of Rest since Creation. It is one of the 10 Commandments, to honor and observe this day and the Messiah stated that "I am master of the Shabbat" and Isaiah assures that the 7th Day Shabbat will be observed during the Millenial Reign of the Messiah. That weekend will be round 2 of the USA football playoffs: including all 4 teams with records of 13-3. The following teams will play: Vikings,  Eagles, Patriots, and the Steelers. Will many football fans be drunk on beer or other intoxicants that weekend? Overindulgence in a pagan "care of life" of "drunkenness" those days?

   The Julian Calendar New Year's Eve and New Year's Day will be for the vast many "at a time you think not." Some will indulge in "the cares of life" which the Messiah WARNED PEOPLE TO AVOID ON THE DAY WHEN THE TRAP, THE SNARE. IS SET! He sternly warned to avoid "drunkenness" and/or "dissipation" (carousing). Might that weekly Day of Rest, honored since Creation, be the time the Groom of the Ages appears to take to The New Jerusalem His bride, body, sheep, and family of the Ages?


With Love and Shalom,
Jean