Lying in the Manger in Bethlehem was the fullness of the Godhead, Bodily.

Christmas is NOT Pagan
https://lettersfromthegulag.blogspot.com/2019/12/pagan-christmas-mythology.html




The undeniable theological confusion created by America's non-Orthodox Christianity, the rubble on the battlefield left by Roman abuses and protestant errors is represented in this article written by Chuck Norris - yes that Chuck Norris. And Chuck is becoming more "theologically sound" year by year. His article is very good.

I remember my shock when Monsignor Regan, who was John Kennedy's second cousin said to me. "Most Americans, even some in my own parish are Arians or at best Nestorians. It distorts everything: devotion, worship, awe, even their own humanity." As this survey says, most Americans, are clueless as to the eternal reality and nature of Jesus Christ, while the vast majority believe "he is the son of God."

I was an Arian for half my life without realizing it. It was subconscious more than theological. Somehow, Jesus, as precious as he was to me, was less than the Great Father God. I remember attending Easter Service in 1983, at a United Brethren Church, with dear friends. The pastor said, "You can't understand the Resurrection of Jesus, that we celebrate today, if you don't understand the significance of the Crucifixion and even that is lost in meaning if you don't understand the Nativity. Yes, Easter is meaningless without Christmas. What you have to understand is that in that Manger, wrapped in flesh was the fullness of the Godhead Bodily." That statement shook me.I instantly thought, Jesus made clear that he and the Father were one. He said, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" I also thought, then if he and the father are one, and the holy spirit proceeded from the father, then he and the spirit were one also. Thus began my serious Trinitarian investigation that ended in the theology of the Christian Orthodox Fathers, undamaged by Roman and Protestant errors. It took two decades. 

 

This is not the gnosticism of the Jesus Only heretics, but the understanding that the Lord our God is one, and those that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth, and our one God is three persons and has never been a first principle, an unmoved prime mover, or an absolute Divine Simplicity, as Thomas Aquinas suggested, but the Person of the Father, and the Person of the Son, and the Person of the Holy Spirit, One God to the Eons of Eons, Aman. <smile> 

 

And the fullness of the Godhead, rest in each Person of the Trinity, and Jesus in the Manger was the presence of the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily. There never was a time when the Son of God was not. And the word "begotten" cannot hold the reality of he who is without beginning. And he who is without beginning humbled himself to be born of the Virgin, to rest, "an infant in the arms of Mary," to share his life with us.

These words are foolishness to Mormons and all the denominations that sprang from that, the Jehovah Witnesses, and many more of the forty-four thousand varieties of Christian "denominations" that populate America. Some of these heretical groups attack Christmas and Easter, and that should give you a good idea of the spirit behind them. Of late the Judeo-Luciferians are joining them in their attack on Christmas and Easter, as they become ever more theoretically judaized, instead celebrating the feast and fast days of Judaism, contrary to the instruction of the New Testament itself.

The bottom line is this: If you are one of those Christians who believe there is a difference between the "cruel God of the Old Testament" and the "God of Love" of the New Testament, you are an Arian or maybe even a Gnostic, and are clueless who the Baby in the Manger truly was and IS. - Archpriest Symeon Elias

https://www.wnd.com/2021/12/americans-dont-believe-jesus-existed-manger/?fbclid=IwAR1kml6knyffNieJ08crApnHkbXZYj_88N5_cl4_-2464RRpVN-a3hhvKyg

wnd.com

Most Americans don't believe Jesus existed before the manger

Chuck Norris

8-10 minutes

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With Christmas upon us, I read a surprising new religious poll by Lifeway Research released this month. It concluded that "Most Americans, and many Christians, don't believe the Son of God existed before the Manger."

According to most Americans, Christmas is a celebration of a real event. Just don't expect them to know exactly why Jesus was born and came to earth.

Christianity Today reported, "A new study from Lifeway Research finds close to 3 in 4 Americans believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. Even more say Jesus is the Son of God the Father, but less than half believe Jesus existed prior to being born on that first Christmas."

Here's a few of the specific findings, according to the Lifeway Research study:

• More than 9 in 10 Americans (91%) celebrate Christmas.
• For most of those celebrating, Christmas is about a historical occurrence.
• More than 7 in 10 (72%) say the Jesus Christians believe in was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. Few (9%) disagree, while 18% aren't sure.
• Most Americans (80%) agree Jesus Christ is the Son of God, while 10% disagree and 10% aren't sure.
• The average person isn't quite as sure about the Son of God's existence prior to Jesus' birth. Around 41% say God's Son existed before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 32% of Americans disagree, and 28% say they're not sure.

"Most Americans consider Jesus' birth a historical fact," said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. "It can be easy to only evaluate Jesus like you would any other historical figure – thinking about when He lived and what He did. However, the Bible also describes Jesus in a way that one must evaluate who you believe He was. Most Americans believe His origin was from God the Father, but half as many believe He existed before His birth."

Bottom line, "Despite widespread belief that Jesus really came to earth as a baby, there is far less familiarity with [who Jesus really was and] why Jesus said He came," said McConnell.

I'm not a preacher, but my mother raised my brothers and me on the Christian faith. She also taught us the real Christmas story: that the Son of God left His Heavenly throne to come down and sacrifice his life for ours. Greater than even our amazing and courageous fallen military warriors who died for our earthly freedom (and as a patriot, you know how much I value them), Jesus alone died for our spiritual freedom. That's the fact reflected 2,000 years ago in the angel's announcement to His earthly father, Joseph: "She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."

To put it succinctly, Jesus was God in human flesh. That's why His name was also called "Immanuel," meaning "God with us." One of my friends says, "Jesus was God with skin on." So, of course, He existed before the manger. To not believe that, as they say, is to throw the baby (His real identity) out with the bathwater (the manger).

Did Jesus exist before His appearance in the Bethlehem manger?

A world-renown religious scholar, pioneer teacher and prolific author was Dr. Huston Smith, who passed away in 2016 at 97 years of age. Few could parallel his knowledge and experience of world religions. He was trained in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan, studied with a Sufi mystic in Iran, and lived in many different cultures and countries as he learned from and also taught their people.

Dr. Smith spent the majority of his academic career as a professor at Washington University in St. Louis (1947-1958), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1958-1973) and Syracuse University (1973-1983). In 1983, he retired from Syracuse and moved to Berkeley, California, where he was a visiting professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, until his death.

With his vast knowledge of world religions and religious leaders throughout human history, Dr. Smith was asked a straightforward question in an interview 10 years before his death: "Who do you think Jesus was? Was he [just] another charismatic Jewish healer?"

Even though Smith was what many categorize as liberal in many of his views, he replied with a straightforward fact and answer about the Son of God: "He was God incarnate. He was Christ. He was God in human form. That would be my succinct answer." (Unbiased historians like Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, who was the professor of Ancient History at Miami University for over four decades, agrees in his treatise, "Jesus Compared with Other Great Religious Figures.")

That is why C.S. Lewis, the great Oxford and Cambridge scholar, author of the "Chronicles of Narnia" series, and he who was once an avid atheist, wrote: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

Lewis and Smith's responses above remind me of a quote I read a while ago: "A thousand times in this life a baby has become a king, but only once has a King become a baby."

Though we respect all religions, it is that latter King's birth my wife, Gena, and I celebrate at Christmastime, and we hope you do, too.

From our household to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

(If you doubt, struggle or want to further explore faith and spiritual issues during this holiday season and new year, I encourage you to download this FREE E-copy of the book, "God Questions: Exploring Life's Greatest Questions About God," which tackles tough questions about God and gives evidence to support them. And to help your kids and grandkids, our good friend and former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, is giving away FREE copies of "The Kids' Guide to the Bible." Simply go to FreeJesusGift.com and request yours!)

Is it possible we've all been missing something extraordinary in life? Can we really discover and understand the secret to EVERYTHING? An inspiring new book unlocks hundreds of mysteries from the Bible and your personal life!

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