THE NEW COVENANT IS ALL ABOUT FREEDOM AND LIBERTY!

Illustration Taken From My Book: "The Language of God in Prophecy"

NOTE: This article was originally posted on

Christmas Eve 2013 on Facebook 

Let me make something perfectly clear. Although, as a Messianic, I teach others about the Seven Feasts of Yahweh God's Sacred Calendar, and understand the prophetic importance of God's Appointed Times, I also understand and teach that ALL of these feasts pointed ahead to Yahshua. In addition, I understand the future importance that three of God's Feasts - Passover Week (especially Firstfruits/Resurrection Sunday), Pentecost or Shavuot, and the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles - will continue to have in the Millennial Kingdom of Yahshua, as well as the great prophetic importance that Chanukah and Purim have for Gentile believers who are grafted in today.

But we must not forget that our Messiah Yahshua has already fulfilled ALL of these feasts to some extent with His perfect conception, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, heavenly rule and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost/Shavuot to everyone who freely chooses to love and follow Him! In fact, Yahshua and His Apostles made it clear that - when we truly follow Him - the world no longer has any power over us because we have been given the power to break every satanic curse and bring forth every divine blessing with our prayers uttered in faith. Because of this, we are under no obligation to hold any day as holier than another, but are called to honor each and every day as being part of a perpetual Sabbath Rest, of which Yahshua's Millennial Reign is the final culmination.

Because we are under no obligation to keep any special feasts, but are told to see each day as a Sabbath Rest in Yahshua under His Grace, everyone can choose to celebrate Christ's conception and/or birth whenever they want. We are under no legal obligation to keep Christmas or to not keep it. For proof of this, read Colossians 2, Galatians 5, 1 Corinthians 8 through 1 Corinthians 10, and 2 Corinthians 3. If you are too weak in your faith and too fearful of laws that are no longer applicable to us under the New (NOT Renewed) Covenant, then choose NOT to keep Christmas or any other holiday that you feel is not on God's Sacred Calendar, although I have repeatedly shown that Christmas was never connected to any Pagan feast day, but is instead connected to Chanukah. It is your choice to do as you wish if you think it pleases God - even if it flies in the face of reason.

By reason, I mean the following: when reading 1 Corinthians 8 about not being a stumbling block, remember that Paul was applying this to eating food sacrificed to idols in front of people who worship the idol. This is further clarified in 1 Corinthians 9 and 10. There, Paul teaches us that, though we know that every idol is truly nothing and has no power over us, we cannot in good conscience eat food sacrificed to idols without telling those who worship them that we do not eat this food to glorify the idol or partake in its false worship! We are obligated to share what we know and explain our actions to those who are weak, but we are not obligated to starve to death to keep those with a weak conscience happy! In other words, we do not have to give up everything we enjoy in liberty, provided that we are up front about why we have no problem doing so!

In addition, under Christ, we no longer need to fear superstition or keep old traditions! We are free from fear in Christ, and are at liberty to choose to keep traditions or not to do so. Besides the Christian traditions of men surrounding Easter/Resurrection Sunday and Christmas, this includes keeping Chanukah, Passover or any other Jewish Feast traditionally. Among these traditions, Christmas trees and evergreen decorations are NOT objects of worship for most people, nor are crosses, menorahs, Seder plates, prayer shawls, stars, doves or nativity scenes. They are reasons for delight and give enjoyment with their loveliness or artistry, but we must guard that they are not worshiped and that others are fully aware that they are not to be worshiped or idolized, and we are in no way emulating Pagan traditions, but have created new Christ-centered traditions that center around Yahshua's coming Kingdom.

I sadly wasn't able to put up a tree this year, not because I didn't want to, but couldn't afford to! Times are tough. But they become even tougher when I have to fight this battle every year with ignorant people who are too caught up in legalism and are not filled with enough of the Holy Spirit to enjoy the FREEDOM and LIBERTY we have have been given through Yahshua, who fulfilled the entire LAW for us all because He is the living embodiment of the LAW! You can choose how you wish to live, but you don't have a right to condemn me or anyone else for enjoying our FREEDOM IN CHRIST, which is now, and forever will be a part of the NEW Covenant!

If you want to be weighed down by outmoded laws that no longer serve any purpose, then do so if it keeps you on the straight and narrow. But don't condemn believers for exercising their freedom and liberty to celebrate their faith in any way that they choose - so long as they are candid in sharing how it centers around Christ and His Kingdom, and why they see it as edifying to themselves and their families, friends and loved ones.

Remember that YAHSHUA IS THE GIVER OF, AND FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW! Therefore, when we love and honor Him and love others as He did, we are fulfilling the Law with every act of faith and love that we perform because we love Him! In all truth, you are blind if you cannot see that we keep the entire Law and ALL the commandments when we love Yahshua and use the power that He gives us to flee from sexual immorality, shun greed, avoid lies, reject lust, and see through Pagan and Occult distortions of the truth to see the godly truth hidden behind their lies. In short, when we are born again, believers in Christ are given the Holy Spirit, Who shows them how to keep God's Moral Laws as set forth in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and Who helps them to flee from all sin, including all forms of sexual immorality.

When we are tuned in to the voice of the Holy Spirit within us, we know that the sacrificial and ceremonial aspects of the Law are no longer important, but only God's Moral Law when it is tempered by the love, compassion, mercy and kindness that Christ calls us to extend to others. So, instead of becoming legalistic and weighed down by outmoded ways of thinking, let's choose to listen to the Holy Spirit, and to love others by sharing the freedom from sin and the liberty we have been given in Christ to throw off legalistic yokes that have no place in the Kingdom of God. Let's use our freedom through Christ to focus on the important things instead such as sexual purity, love, joy, peace, kindness, fellowship and charity - just as Yahshua told us to do!

Merry Christmas, and Happy Gregorian Calendar New Year!

Your Sister in Yahshua,
Helena Lehman of the
Pillar of Enoch Ministry
Ministry Blog: http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com
Ministry Web Site: http://pillar-of-enoch.com