In de  nieuwsbrief van de  El Shaddai-gemeente bestaande uit vrnl. Yeshua-belijdende Joden,  pastor Mark Biltz, Washington, las ik onderstaande info over de Oud/Nieuw viering, schokkend!

We vierden die onzin  al niet, want  met vuurwerk demonen verdrijven  (dat is de Chinese achtergrond) voor 70 miljoen euro met de nodige verwondingen is al te gek voor woorden, steeds meer mensen beginnen eindelijk te snappen, dat dit moet stoppen.
Maar er is ook nog een antisemitische voorgeschiedenis, waar de RK-kerk geheel en al verantwoordelijk voor is.

Om te beginnen valt Nieuwjaarsdag , 1 Januari dus, samen met de 10e Tevet van de Bijbelse kalender en deze  ” 10e dag van de 10e maand” en dat blijkt dan deze dag is verbonden met de verwoesting van de tempel in 586 voor Chr. door Nebukadnezar.
Op die dag begon het beleg rond de stad,  2 Kon. 25:1
In Zach. 8:18,19 zegt JHWH tot Zacharia, dat deze dag van vasten , samen met andere vastendagen nalv. de verwoesting van de tempel, een dag van vreugde voor het huis van Juda zal worden.
De vraag is, of dit samenvallen van Oud/Nieuw 2014/15 een profetische aanwijzing is, we zullen zien.

Mbt. deze heidense viering merkt Mark Biltz op, dat de Oud/Nieuwjaarsviering in heel wat landen bekend is als Sylvester , genoemd naar paus Sylvester, zijn sterfdag was 31 dec. en die dag werd dus “Sylvesteravond” ter nagedachtenis van  hem.
Sylvester was paus van 314-335 na Chr.,  als opvolger van paus Miltiades) en zorgde voor antisemitische maatregelen.
Hij was voorzitter van het 1e concilie van Nicea , waarin de RK-kerk zich verder ontdeed van alles wat de Joodse basis was van het christelijk geloofsleven !
Bovendien was hij betrokken bij de bekering tot het christendom van  keizer Constantijn, die tot dan de zonnegod aanbad en zo van “de regen in de drup” kwam, want de antisemitische RK-kerk is erger dan afgoderij.
Paus Syvester overtuigde  de keizer er van om Joden te verbieden in Yerushalyim te wonen en dit werd als gebod uitgevaardigd in 322 vlak voor het concilie te Nicea .
Tijdens dat concilie werd er nog meer antisemitische wetgeving geregeld door paus Sylvester en sommigen stellen, dat hij de “meest antisemitische paus ooit was”.
Alle “RK-heiligen” hebben een dag , waarop ze “her-dach-t ” worden en zo komen we dankzij paus Sylvester, die op 31 dec. stierf, aan het herdenken van de dag van de meest antisemitische paus ooit.

M.i.v. Nieuwjaarsdag 1577  besloot paus Gregorius XIII dat alle Joden te Rome,  op straffe des doods, aandachtig moesten luisteren naar een dwangmatige Roomse bekeringspreek, die dan in alle synagoges te Rome op vrijdagavond moest worden gegeven.
Op Nieuwjaarsdag 1578 maakte deze paus een wet, waarin Joden verplicht werden belasting te betalen om een “Bekeringshuis” in stand te houden, waar Joden tot christendom werden bekeerd.
Met Nieuwjaarsdag 1581 beval paus Gergorius XIII om alle Joods religieuze literatuur in beslag te nemen en tijdens die actie werden duizenden Joden vermoord.

Rome was al een vijand van Israel , zo bleek in 46 voor Chr., in de strijd tegen Joodse opstandelingen tegen het Romeinse rijk.
Julius Caesar (keizer Julius) stelde toen ter ere van de afgod Janus (“Januskop”, 2 gezichten), die voor “in en uitgang” stond, Nieuwjaarsdag gevierd moest worden (de naam van de maand January verwijst naar Janus).
Afgod Janus doet overigens denken aan de duivel, de “vader der leugen”, onbetrouwbaar, 2 gezichten. Net als de koranAllah, die “de grootste misleider/manipulator is” , volgens de koran in soera 3:54
Julius Caesar vierde die dag door veel Joodse “opstandelingen” te vermoorden, het bloed stroomde door de straten, aldus ooggetuigen.
Later vierden de Romeinse heidenen Nieuwjaarsdag in dronkenschap-orgieen, om aan te geven, dat er chaos was  in de kosmos totdat de “goden” “orde brachten in de schepping”.

Dus de hele Oud/Nieuwjaar viering is in oorsprong vanuit de Romeinse jaartelling het vereren van afgod Janus (vglbaar met de duivel/koranAllah), met antisemitisme vanuit de RK kerk en staat in het patroon van de duivelse , afgodische feesten,  waarmee  JHWH gelasterd wordt, te weten zon-dag, zonnewende (kerst) en voorjaarsvruchtbaarheidsfeest (pasen).
In Israel is de viering van “Sylvester” /Oud-Nieuw dan ook terecht verboden vanuit de rabbijnen, te meer daar het Bijbelse jaar begint met Pesach, burgerlijk gevierd op Rosh Hashanna en dat laatste is dan helaas ook weer afwijkend van de Tora.
Zie  http://www.petersteffens.nl/nieuwsbrieven/februari-2008.html
JHWH gebood ons de Feesten van JHWH, de Moadiem te vieren en Yeshua leefde ons die feesten voor met shabbath, Pesach, Shawoeoth, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth voor.
Vier ze met ons mee, zie http://tora-yeshua.nl/samenkomsten/

Shabbath shalom,
Ben Kok (joods-chr. pastor)

Hieronder de originele nieuwsbrief van Mark Biltz.

Shalom one and all!!
In case you are not aware, this year, New Years begins on the 10th of Tevet of the Biblical calendar! What you may ask is the big deal about the 10th of Tevet and New Years?
Well, Tevet is the 10th month and something very significant happened on the 10th day of the 10th month. So much so that God told Ezekiel to write the name of this day down that no one would ever forget! Well let’s look at what the Lord thinks of this day:

Ez 24:1,2 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month,  in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.

Here is another verse talking about the importance of this day:
2Kgs 25:1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

Wow, this year starts on the very day Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Jerusalem.  Look at a very special Biblical prophecy that has not been fulfilled yet: Zec 8:18,19 And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

First off, all these fast days mentioned have to do with the destruction of the temple around 586BC by Nebuchadnezzar:

It was the 10th of Tevet that the walls were surrounded. The fast of the 4th month is the 17th of Tammuz. This was the time when the walls were broken through. The fast of the 5th month is 9th of Av the day the Temple destroyed. The fast of the 7th month is the 3rd of Tishri which recognizes when Gedaliah, the governor Nebuchadnezzar put in charge, was killed.
So, some year, prophetically something will happen that will turn these days from being fast days now for over 2,500 years to days of great joy to Israel. What could possibly happen to have such phenomenal historical significance? So every year when we see these days coming we watch what might happen. My point is we need to be on God’s calendar! To begin this year on one of these days is a great reminder to be aware and watching on God’s prophetic calendar. You can get our 2015 Biblical calendar here.

The other idea I wonder about is that is God trying to tell us that this year could be a very important year in Israel’s history? Time will tell. We need to keep Israel in our prayers this year. Did you know in many countries New Years Day is called Sylvester? Ever wonder why that is and why Israel as a nation does not celebrate it?

Concerning New Years day, here is what I came across via an email and research online concerning Israel and this day in history;

New Years, most commonly known as Sylvester, is named after an anti-Semitic pope. Not exactly what you’d expect in a Jewish state.

It’s origins come from Pope Sylvester, whose saint’s day falls on December 31st, what is now known as New Years Eve. He served as pope from 314-335 CE, and while very little is known about his actual life, it is known that he oversaw both the First Council of Nicea as well as the Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.

Pope Sylvester convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem, the year before the Council of Nicea convened, and during the council, the Pope arranged for the passing of various anti-Semitic legislation. Some say he is one of the most anti-Semitic Popes of all time.

At the Council of Nicaea, Pope Sylvester arranged for the passage of a host of viciously anti-Semitic legislation.  All Catholic “Saints” are awarded a day on which Christians celebrate and pay tribute to that Saint’s memory.  December 31 is Saint Sylvester Day – hence celebrations on the night of December 31 are dedicated to Sylvester’s memory.
Why?
Pope Sylvester I died on December 31, 335. He was Pope from January 31, 314 to his death in 335.

He succeeded Pope Miltiades.
The Saint Silvester Road Race (official name in Portuguese: Corrida Internacional de São Silvestre) is a long-distance running event, the oldest and most prestigious street race in Brazil. Regarded as the main international event in Latin American athletics, the Brazilian competition is held yearly in the city of São Paulo on December 31. This day is Saint Silvester’s Day, as it is the day in which the Catholic saint, who was a Pope, died in the 4th century of the Christian Era.
Numerous other European countries, such as Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia, refer to New Years as Sylvester. But why Israel?
The tradition of Sylvester came to Israel along with the mass wave of European immigration around the time that Israel became a state. Of course, the Jewish calendar already had a “New Years,” Rosh Hashanah, so there is not much need for a secular replacement. So the name “Sylvester” stuck.

On New Years Day 1577 Pope Gregory XIII decreed that all Roman Jews, under pain of death, must listen attentively to the compulsory Catholic conversion sermon given in Roman synagogues after Friday night services.  On New Years Day 1578 Gregory signed into law a tax forcing Jews to pay for the support of a “House of Conversion” to convert Jews to Christianity.  On New Years 1581 Gregory ordered his troops to confiscate all sacred literature from the Roman Jewish community.  Thousands of Jews were murdered in the campaign.

In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back.  Caesar felt that the month named after this god (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year.  Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New Year by ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee.  Eyewitnesses say blood flowed in the streets.  In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies-a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has declared that there can be no New Year’s celebration in the Land of Israel. The Rabbinate’s requirements state explicitly that “placing references to Gentile holidays at the end of the secular year is not allowed.” That means no New Year’s Eve for many Israelis.
Punishment for Celebrating New Year’s Eve
This week the Chief Rabbinate published notices warning that any Israeli establishment holding a New Year’s Eve Party would be punished by the religious authorities. Although the Rabbinate does not have legal authority to prevent anyone from celebrating the New Year, they are able to impose their will on large portions of the Jewish population due to their control over Kosher certification. “Any hotel or restaurant offering a New Years Eve celebration will have their Kosher certificate revoked,” warned the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Similar warnings were issued to establishments not to display Christmas trees or put up New Year’s decorations.
So be careful in your wishing a “Happy New Year” to your Jewish friends. Having the 10th of Tevet fall on this day, a horrible day in Jewish history adds to the angst. Let’s get on God’s calendar!

Blessings!
Pastor Mark