The Festival of Lights & The Dedication
** BACKGROUND: Read 1 Maccabees chapters 1-5 HERE.
Redemption has come to the believers of Family of YAH/House of Elohim and all believers in His set-apart Name.
We celebrate the Festival of Lights & Liberty in honor and remembrance of the Most High Creator YAHUAH and His Laws that brought light into the world. This celebration depicts our freedom to return to the Sovereignty of YAHUAH. The Awesome Presence of YAH returns to us when we repent. We have returned to the children of Yisrael in the House of Ya’aqob.
And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, when I dwell in the midst of the children of Yisra’ĕl forever, and the house of Yisra’ĕl shall no longer defile My set-apart Name, they nor their sovereigns, by their whoring and by the corpses of their sovereigns on their high places.” (Yehez/Ezek. 43:7)
Remember The Maccabees And The Evil King Antiochus, The Greek
In the land of Judah in ancient times, an evil king by the name of King Antiochus arose. This evil king took over all the regions of the middle east conquering from Egypt to Israel. He sought to bring all people under his evil reign.
He went into the land of Yisrael to turn the people away from following YAH to follow his idols. He promised the people that if they follow him, then they would live well and he would not kill them. Many of the Yahudim at that time, out of fear, forsook the Covenant of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and joined the evil king. The king went through the land killing many, many people who refused to do as he commanded.
This king attempted to replace the Laws of Elohim with his own laws and commandments. His laws commanded that all the people follow his idols (such as zeus) and keep all of his idolatrous ways.
He robbed the Temple of Elohim of all its treasured possessions, including the Menorah of gold and all the hidden treasures of the Temple. He placed statues of idols throughout the cities of David. He commanded that the people not keep the Sabbath nor keep the festivals of Elohim but to do things his way instead. King Antiochus demanded the Hebrews to not keep the New Moons, festivals, or the Sabbath. He also killed many Hebrew women who refused to not circumcised their babies.
Antiochus outlawed everything that the Yahudim observed. He tore down Judaism as was practiced by the Hebrews. Then on the 25th day of Kislev, he destroyed the Temple of Elohim and grossly profaned the Altar of Elohim with the sacrificing of a swine.
The laws of Antiochus were made to cause the people to forsake YAH and his Laws and to serve the Greek idols instead. It was a horrible situation.
But YAH came to the aid of His people! A priest called MattitYahu (Matthias) arose and fought against this evil regime. The battles continued but MattitYahu remained zealous for the Laws of Elohim. The Yahudim prayed and fought until MattitYahu died. But before he died, he called for his son Yahudah (Judas) called Maccabee to take over.
Yahudah was courageous and zealous for the Laws of Elohim. The Maccabees’ army was very small compared to the Greek armies of king Antiochus. Therefore, they prayed and made offerings to the Elohim of the Heavens and asked for His help.
As they laid down crying out to Him, YAH heard their cry, and He answered. Yahudah and the Maccabees defeated the army of the king. YAH gave him the victory over evil. They had several battles later until the evil king retreated and went into Persia. YAH gave the victory to all his mighty men who were zealous for His laws.
The Altar which had been profaned was rebuilt and cleansed, and Temple worship was restored. The Laws which were profaned were restored to the people. Statues were torn down and removed from the Set-Apart Place. Everything that defiled the worship of Elohim was removed.
They worshiped Elohim of the heavens and the earth. They kept His laws by observing the New moons, Festivals, Sacrifices of burnt offerings and drink offerings, Tithes, incense offering, the lighting of the Menorah lamps, the circumcising of the male children, the kashrut laws of eating clean meat, and all that was ritually clean.
Freedom was granted back to the people. When they repented and cried out to YAH in sackcloth and ashes, YAH relented and gave them the victory over their enemies so that they serve only Him in the manner He willed.
Yahudah Maccabee set up a memorial on the 25th day of the ninth month. This was the day that king Antiochus destroyed the Temple and attempted to destroy all Yisrael in the land. Therefore, on this day at this same time, for eight days you shall celebrate the Temple Restoration and rededicate the Temple by lighting the Menorah in Thanksgiving to YAH for His Laws.
Our Scroll: We Were Broken, Now Restored
We were once Christians who did not keep the commandments of Elohim. We honored the festivals of pagan idols, ignorant of the festivals of the Hebrews. We ate foods prohibited in the Scriptures and profaned ourselves by eating swine. We did not know the Name of our Father. Thus, we called the pagan names we were taught. We were not taught as Hebrews but rather as Greeks and Romans.
His House was broken, and the Altar was nowhere in our lives. We only knew about the vast amount of houses of Baal worship.
Yet, our desire was to serve the One Most High El and to become His. In 1989, YAH saved me from the grave, and I entered a Covenant with Him promising that I would seek Him to know Him and would follow Him.
In 1992, we found the Torah and began keeping Sabbath. But we still had to find the truth, so we continued to seek until we found it.
We were a defiled people without the covenant and without atonement. Like it is written in the Book of Maccabees, we were the Altar that was defiled. We had to change our lives by being humbled by YAH. We struggled with family, finances, and societal pressures. We were being pushed so we could change our ways.
Breaking us down was getting our being to understand that we committed a grievous sin by being in the Church system. This breaking down of our being was like the Maccabees breaking down the filthy defiled Altar.
In the Book of Maccabees, they fought against the Greek king, and YAH gave them the victory. They restored the House and rebuilt the Altar. We too were broken as we came out of the Greco-Roman regime. Returning to the true Laws of Elohim is our purification and rebuilding.
Christianity in Comparison to the Time of the Maccabean Era
Christianity is of Greco-Roman origin. Christianity – A RELIGION OF THE WORLD – has a Roman king, the Pope. The Pope is the head of Christianity, and he sits in the seat of JC.
The Catholics do not follow the Laws of Elohim completely. They have statues all around the world of their popes and saints. They follow Egyptian practices. They do not command circumcision, and all their appointed times are pagan.
They have most of the world under their domain. Like King Antiochus, they teach lawlessness by teaching the people to worship an idol. Much like the Greek king, they are continuing to carry on the traditions of paganism. The pagans to this day are still trying to destroy Hebrew belief (Judaism) with secrets of destroying the people and their Nation. Hitler was a remembrance of the evil Antiochus.
The Battle to Conquer Evil and Falsehood in Our Day
What were we called to do? How can we conquer a people so great? Christianity is worldwide.
Billions of people worldwide are in paganism, and many do not know it. Out of ignorance they serve another. The war is spiritual, and the battle is over belief in the Laws of Elohim or belief in the laws of the Greeks and Romans.
The multitude of people are in falsehood and ignorance. Therefore, the battle is with the heads.
The evil spirits have been rendered powerless and have been condemned. The heads of the people have already been judged and the rest is in the hands of YAH.
I began to understand and realize the meaning of a dream given to me years earlier. In the dream, a Messenger of Elohim walked by my side as we walked through a building standing in a graveyard on a hill. The building was like a church with a long empty hallway. We walked until we came up to the front. We stopped for I felt a force that was very strong.
We had come up to that serpent of old – huge, powerful, and strong. He uttered words like, “You are not more powerful than i” in a prideful voice. I was taken aback because I felt his power.
Then, the Messenger who walked with me placed words in my mind, and I spoke saying, “Oh, but I disarm you of all your power!” Then all of his power fell from him.
I proceeded towards the Serpent, and said to him, “Give me back my keys!” I took the keys and went out the side door. I awoke from the dream knowing something fantastic happened but didn’t quite understand it all until years later when we walked out the dream literally in Rome, Italy in 2018.
The time came for the world’s lies to be exposed, and the people to come to the truth. It was the time for the judgment to come to the Vatican. It was time for the set-apart ones of Elohim to judge and condemn the heads of the Church. This was today’s spiritual battle against Rome and Greece.
In October of 2018, being impressed upon by YAH, we went to Rome to enter a spiritual warfare battle. I then began to understand the dream that YAH gave to me years earlier. That dream began to unfold at the Vatican.
Our tour guide led us through the Vatican. We went through St. Peter's Basilica rebuking the evil spirits and disarming the devil as we walked through. Then, the next day, we stood in front of the Basilica and on their ground condemned the evil practices and enslavement of the people and the defiling of children in churches around the world.
We condemned it all so that all people will some day come to the truth and return to the Laws of Elohim.
YAH confirmed His judgment a week later with an unusual hail storm. Their fate is in the hands of the Almighty Elohim. It is He who fights our battles for us.
YAH gave us the victory when we obeyed Him to go to Rome. Like Yahudah Maccabee, we are zealous for the Kingdom of Elohim and His Laws. HalleluYah!
People have a right to choose and seek out the truth with no interference from the evil one.
We celebrate our existence as true believers who through the last 33 years have been broken, cleansed, and rebuilt to stand as His Altar of burnt offerings and peace offerings, serving Him by making offerings of righteousness to YAH Most High. We are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of יהוה.
We have renounced all paganism and pagan idols, destroyed all Asherim, removed all pagan teachings and Greco-Roman influences, and cast down all that has to do with evil. We have removed the mixture of pagan and righteous service. We have returned to the service of YAHUAH the Most High to serve only Him.
BACKGROUND: Read 1 Maccabees chapters 1-5 HERE.
CHANUKAH GUIDE
In observing Chanukah, we remember and celebrate our return to Elohim and His Laws. Each night, as we light the chanukiah, we profess and confirm our commitment to His Laws.
Download & print the 8-day guide below to follow each night.