The explanation of Paul’s grave warnings concerning

“beggarly elements”

 

This holiday season was one of the best regarding how the L-rd used family and friends to make this weekend exceptional. People who know me understand how I love to defend the Word of God. Especially, around this time of year. In my teachings about origins of the pollution of these ancient winter feasts, we see how their history repeatedly appears throughout the Bible. Through prophet after prophet, ADONIA warned the people of the consequences associating what is “Holy” with “profane” or the truth of G-d with pagan folklores.” So, just what is the problem with celebrating a season of joy? There are several problems.

Number one: Satan wants Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ at the same time of the “Winter Solstice.” He hopes that while decorating their homes with the same decorations used by Pagans and the art of Wiccans (witchcraft), Christians will forget that we benefit greatly because of His death and that we identify with Jesus’ death more than His birth.

Zechariah 12:10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. (Zec 12:10 NLT)

The concept to follow is that we love Him because He is our gift from G-d. Moreover, at His death, He paved the way to eternal salvation and became King of kings and L-rd of all lords with healing in His wings and deliverance in His name. And, He will show us the way to eternal life.

Believers can’t forget that part of the redeeming litigation is the punitive damages.

Definition of punitive damages:  This monetary compensation awarded to an injured party that goes beyond that which is necessary to compensate the individual or losses, and that is intended to punish the wrongdoer.

The long awaited servant of G-d would be falsely accused of a crime He didn’t commit. He would be killed unfairly judged, beaten until blood gushed from His veins, then executed by an illegitimate mob.

Jesus had to suffer every human emotion and every level of pain just so that Christ may be fully equipped to be our Healer and Savior.

Now G-d is obliged full retribution against the guilty party who is responsible for everything done to this innocent man (The Lamb of G-d, Jesus the Christ).

 Num 5:8 NLT 8 But if the person who was wronged is dead, and there are no near relatives to whom restitution can be made, the payment belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest. Those who are guilty must also bring a ram as a sacrifice, and they will be purified and made right with the LORD. (Num 5:8 NLT)

Swearing Falsely                                                                                                                 Lev 6:5-7 NLT 5 or anything obtained by swearing falsely. You must make restitution by paying the full price plus an additional 20 percent to the person you have harmed. On the same day you must present a guilt offering.
6 As a guilt offering to the LORD, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value.
7 Through this process, the priest will purify you before the LORD, making you right with him, and you will be forgiven for any of these sins you have committed.”
(Lev 6:5-7 NLT)

Note the following article:
Winter solstice marks the start of longer days
By Alison Daye, CNN
Updated 8:53 AM ET, Wed December 21, 2016

(CNN) There’s a lot going on in the skies above us right now. Today, December 21st marks the winter solstice, where daylight hours start to get longer in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the UK, hundreds of pagans, druids, and revelers from far and wide gathered at Stonehenge in Salisbury, UK, to witness the sun rising up over the horizon on the shortest day of the year.

Additional note on a more personal level:
My wife and I were invited to come to the D. C. area for the Christmas holidays. While visiting President Washington’s home (Mount Vernon), our guide said something that alerted my spirit to an important historical fact that I never grasped before. As he showed us the rooms where Washington met diplomats and statesmen, (even the bedroom where the first president of the United States died), the tour guide explained to us why there was an absence of Christmas decorations.

The statement from the tour guide that amazed me the most was when He apologized for the nonexistence of Christmas decorations because the historian committee wanted to be “authentic to that era.” So, what I was hearing was that the founding fathers would not have known what Christmas decorations were because the introduction of that tradition had not arrived from the Indo-European people into America’s history as of that date.

Weak and beggarly elements
In the Bible, Paul’s grave warnings concerning something called “weak and beggarly elements,”  found in the Book of  Galatians 4:9.

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire to again to be in bondage.

What did this old English term mean to the first century Church?

Whereas the Apostle Paul saw a need to warn the early believers against pagan traditions from the Celtic superstition’s practices, a similar warning was giving to the First Century Church in the Book of Acts.

Act 19:18-20 NLT 18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices.
19 Some them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.
20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect. (Act 19:18-20 NLT)

How should today’s readers translate Galatians 4:9?
First of all, Galatians may have been the original “Celts.”

Definition: Celts, also Kelt, c.1600, from Latin Celta, the singular of Celtae, from Greek Keltoi, Herodotus’ word for the Gauls (who also were called Galatia). Used by the Romans of continental Gauls but apparently not of the British Celtic tribes. Originally in English in reference to ancient peoples; extension to their modern descendants is from mid-19c., from French usage. (Dictionary.com)

The Celts are members of a group of peoples inhabiting much of Europe and Asia Minor in pre-Roman times. Their culture developed in the late Bronze Age around the upper Danube, and reached its height in the La Tène culture (5th to 1st centuries bc) before being overrun by the Romans and various Germanic peoples. However, their influence and superstitious beliefs system remained among groups that conquered them. The Celtics gave the world its winter feasts which later became the modern-day Halloween and the Feast of Saturnalia, before it was renamed “Christmas.”

If the Galatians were direct descendants of the Celts, then this shows why the previously called “Gauls” struggled with forsaking their idols. Let’s dig a little deeper and find out what is the meaning of the term, “weak and beggarly elements” in the King James Version (Gal 4:9 KJV).

The Galatians believed that elves or fairies would come into the homes decorated with the evergreen (evergreens were sacred to the Celts because they did not “die” thereby representing the eternal aspect of the Divine). The Apostle Paul called them spirits of bondage. The presence of these entities significantly influenced the Galatians in a negative way. The Galatians also believed these little people, referred to as elemental spirits, were supposed to be the principle spirits of creation and responsible for maintaining all things from the material world to the Earth’s atmosphere. In today’s world “elves,” sylphs,” sprits,” “fairies,” or “leprechauns” still have influence, in particular for those involved in the art of witchcraft.

The New Living Translation; (Gal 4:9)
Why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? (Gal 4:9 NLT)

The Complete Jewish Bible gives the best translation.
8 In the past, when you did not know God, you served as slaves beings which in reality are non-gods.
9 But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more? (Gal 4:8-9 CJB)

The question remains: When Paul said in the New Living Translation, “You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years,” was it a warning to Christians about mixing Pagan beliefs while trying to serve G-d?

9 So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
10 You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. (Gal 4:9-10 NLT)

While the Galatians thought these spirits were cute and harmless, Paul seemed to detect a more dangerous type of presence. His warnings were for the people who had started observing new holidays that were outside of Jewish tradition. These holidays included the belief in flying creatures such as reindeer and little beings called “Sylphs.”

Among the elementals, the ones I find most interesting are the Sylphs. They inhabit the air and may live in any meteorological phenomenon, either singly, or in groups. A dust devil might have a Sylph inhabit it, for its brief existence. A hurricane has a large number of them.

Feast of Fools
“Feast of Fools, a popular festival during the Middle Ages, held on or about January 1, particularly in France, in which a mock bishop or pope was elected, an ecclesiastical ritual was parodied, and low and high officials changed places. Such festivals were probably a Christian adaptation of the pagan festivities of the Saturnalia. By the 13th century, these feasts had become a burlesque of Christian morality and worship. In spite of repeated prohibitions and penalties imposed by the Council of Basel in 1431, the feasts did not die out entirely until the 16th century” .https://www.britannica.com/

Saturn (Roman god)
Saturn’s great festival, the Saturnalia, became the most popular of Roman festivals, and its influence is still felt in the celebration of Christmas and the Western world’s New Year. The Saturnalia was originally celebrated on December 17, but it was later extended to seven days. It was the merriest festival of the year: all work and business were suspended; slaves were given temporary freedom.

Christmas is the most popular of all festivals among Christians and many non-Christians alike, and its observance combines many strands of tradition. From the ancient Roman pagan festivals of Saturnalia (December 17) and New Year’s come the merrymaking and exchange of presents. Old Germanic midwinter customs have contributed the lighting of the Yule log and decorations with evergreens. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saturnalia-Roman-festival

Mid 17th century: from modern Latin sylphes, sylphi and the

German plural Sylphen, perhaps based on Latin sylvestris of the woods + nympha nymph.

Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare’s The Tempest), by William Hamilton. 1797. Public domain.
Priscilla Horton as Ariel in The Tempest, 1838. Public domain.

25 “You must burn their idols in fire, and you must not covet the silver or gold that covers them. You must not take it or it will become a trap to you, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
26 Do not bring any detestable objects into your home, for then you will be destroyed, just like them. You must utterly detest such things, for they are set apart for destruction. (Deu 7:25-26 NLT)

18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices.
19 Some them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.
20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect. (Act 19:18-20 NLT)