What did Paul mean by revealing a Mystery?

Pre-Tribbers will use that Paul said he was revealing a Mystery when he spoke of The Rapture to try and refute the notion that Jesus could possibly have been talking about it in Matthew 24.  Of course they think Jesus was referring to The Rapture when it suits them, for verses that sound like imminence to them.

First of all Mystery or Mysterion in Greek means what was before hidden, not necessarily something that was never there at all.

The passage in question is not I Thessalonians 4, but 1 Corinthians 15.  1 Corinthians 15 does not actually describe the Rapture (us being Caught Up) at all.  It's about The Resurrection.  Also 1 Thessalonians was written before either Corinthian Epistle.

The Resurrection was not a mystery, that was well known in both Jewish and Christian teachings.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53

"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

There are technically two, but they're both linked, ideas here that are at least not directly stated in any prior Old or New Testament passages on The Resurrection, including I Thessalonians.

1. That when The Resurrection of Church Age Believers happens, those Believers alive at that time will be Resurrected without needing to die first.

2. That the Resurrection we are promised is more then just being raised again to how we are now, we'll be changed incorruptible, restored to Adam and Eve's Pre-Fall state.

Both are conclusions one could deduce would be the case from earlier information, but this is the clearest teaching on those matters.

We know the Resurrection being discussed there is the one that happens at Jesus Coming because Paul mentions that elsewhere in the chapter.  And because the timing of The Trump is also used in I Thessalonians 4.

Matthew 24 does not mention The Resurrection.  Pre-Tribbers will also use that fact against it possibly being about The Rapture.  Meanwhile 1 Corinthians 15 is indisputably a Rapture relevant passage when it doesn't actually mention The Rapture.

No Rapture passage covers everything that happens at that event.  Including I Thessalonians 4 which for starters doesn't cover what I just discussed about 1 Corinthians 15.

Matthew 24 does indisputably cover what the word Rapture refers to.  No one is gathered to Him when he comes for Israel, He goes where they already are.

I feel it can be firmly demonstrated that 1 Thessalonians 4 and 2 Thessalonians 2 were essentially a commentary on Matthew 24.  Overall Matthew 24 has more in common with 1 Thessalonians 4 then 1 Corinthians 15 does.

Meanwhile The Rapture is in The Old Testament, in passages like Isaiah 26 and Joel 2:15-16.

In Romans 16:25-26 he seems to refer to the Gospel he preaches as something that was a concealed secret until his own time.  Yet earlier in that book he used The Torah to prove his Gospel (justification by Faith Alone), he uses Genesis 15 to prove it in both Romans and Galatians.

Some Calculations for the 70th Week of Daniel

Drawing on theories I laid out in the 1290 days post and Messiah The Prince post.

Jewish tradition says Elijah will return on Passover, that is part of the reason for the Elijah Cup.  I would never build doctrine on Rabbinic tradition, but that happens to correspond towith many reasons I have for believing the 70th Week begins in Nisan.

Ezekiel 45 makes the 7th of Nisan important for some reason.  Interpretations of the Chronology of Joshua often put the entry of the two spies into Jericho on the 7th of Nisan.  If that is the day the Witnesses begin their ministry, then the 25th or 26th of Elul could be the day they're martyred, depending on if we count them inclusively.  Placing their Resurrection on the Feast of Trumpets or the eve of it, and then the Seventh Trumpet probably that same day or the next.

If it does start on Passover, either the 14th of 15 of Nisan they begin their ministry on.  Which could be the same day the White Horseman is formally crowned.  Then their martyrdom could be the third of Tishri, which is the fast of the seventh month.

I also have a feeling The Image of Revelation 13 (which I don't view as linked to The Temple), could be set up on the 15th of Cheshvan.  1290 days before that could fall if they're counted inclusively on the 26nd of Nisan.  That day is considered by Jewish Tradition the day Joshua died.  If The Antichrist claims to be or is claimed to be Messiah Ben-Joseph, then Joshua  is one of the people he'll be claimed as a type of him.  And I now think it's possible his mortal wounding could be the same day the 1290 days begins.

That is assuming no Second Adar during the period, if there is a Second Adar, then that moves either the start of the 1290 days up to Iyar or the end of it down to Tabernacles.

If the Beast's resurrection (when I begin the 42 months he's allowed to continue) is in Tishri, 42 New Moons latter could put his demise probably in Adar.

If the 1260 days Israel is in the wilderness begins on the 25th or 26th of Elul it could end on the 17th of Adar.  The last of the days affiliated with Purim.  If it starts on the third of Tishrei then the 25th of Adar could be it's end.  Jeremiah 52:31 makes that date potentially significant, many interpret that as also being the day Nebuchadnezzar died.

If we start the 1335 days with The Rapture, and it happens on the First of Tishri.  Their end would be around the 10th of Sivan.  If that day happens to fall on a Sunday, then it would probably be the day that Biblically Pentecost is supposed to fall on.  Sounds like a pretty good day to start The Millennium.

My theory is that the 70th week formally begins on the 1st of Nisan, but the actual events that will make clear we've entered it will happen latter in that same Nisan.

Gnostic Eschatology

A lot of the things you first think of when you think of Gnosticism are merely cosmetic elements that were not universal (not even all Gnostics were pretending to be Christian).

It is not actually required for Gnostics to view the Yahweh of the Old Testament as an Evil Demiurge, or that there are other gods above him.  Nor to make the Serpent good.  But such things certainly were and even still are common.

It's not too hard to turn Biblical Christianity into Gnosticism with only a few key heresies.  The Greek New Testament uses many of the same key words and phrases the Gnostics later used.  Just like modern JWs and Mormons and other cults uses the same terminology Evangelicals use, but they mean different things by them.

Logos and Sophia are used largely because they are accurate Greek translations of Old Testament concepts, The Word and Wisdom.  Both the terms "Archon of the Kosmos" and "God of this World" used of Satan by Jesus in John and Paul respectively, are used in Gnosticism for the Ialdobath.

The core tenet of Gnosticism is disdain for the physical world.  The Bible tells us the Earthly realm has been corrupted by The Fall.  But it will be Restored in the End in Revelation 21-22.  And those who are Saved will be perfected in The Resurrection.

Gnosticism however views the Physical world as inherently Evil, and our Physical bodies as a prison.  So denying a literal Bodily Resurrection of all Believers is key to them.

This is of course what Amillenial and Full Preterist eschatology requires.  Denying a literal Resurrection.

One Preterist website I had studied talks about how the Resurrection is only spiritual, it's about freeing the Souls of the Saved from Sheol only.

And they tied into that a belief in either The Gap Theory or the Extended Day Theory, I don't recall which one.  They insisted physical Death was always Adam's destiny, the Fall only caused spiritual death.  And some Christians even consider theories that Adam didn't have a physical Body before the Fall.  That idea is refuted to me by him saying Eve was made of his Flesh and Bone, but I do think it's possible Blood (as we currently define it) didn't exist before The Fall.

Augustine of Hippo was both the key popularizer of Amillenial eschatology within the Church, and one of the first to reject a literal interpretation of Genesis.  He came out of Gnosticism, and was open about still revering the Platonic Philosophy from which Gnosticism was derived.

I should add of course you can be Futurist and Premillennial and still hold a Gnostic outlook, if you Believe the Resurrection is only Spiritual, which I have seen examples of.

It's funny how Dan Brown in The DaVincci Code sought to create a narrative of modern Roman Catholicism and the Gnostics as arch rivals.  Brown did not comprehend Gnosticism at all, his version of them was the opposite on this very key defining trait.  (The hardcore ancient Gnostics denied Jesus had a physical body, so their Jesus certainly didn't have sex or have children).  The Vatican meanwhile is pretty Gnostic thanks to how much of Augustine they canonized.

The Seven Millenniums of Human History Theory

It's a very popular hypothesis, it makes sense in light of the thematic importance of the number 7 in Scripture.  But I feel the foundation of it is rather shaky.  Yet most people who aren't entirely against Date Setting base their calculations almost solely on this theory, or some variant of the This Generation shall not pass theory, or some contrived view of Revelation 12.

2 Peter 3 draws on a statement from one of the Psalms to say "A day is like a Thousand years and a Thousand years like a day".  The intent of this statement is merely a poetic idiom of God's Timelessness.

But it's popular from there to build a doctrine of the 7 days of Creation representing 7 Millennium of Human History.

It is interesting that this 7 Millenniums theory is expressed in The Talmud and other Rabbinic sources, and Christian supporters of these views keep pointing to the Rabbinic and Kabbalistic support of the idea to prop it up, since it lacks direct Biblical support.  Still Christian support for the idea goes back to Ireaneus.  But the Church Fathers who held this view believed Jesus first advent was around 5500 AM because they used the Septuagint, so they predicted about 500-5030 AD for the Millennium to start.

The core thing that makes it seem credible to Christians is the doctrine of The Millennium from Revelation 20., which becomes viewed as the Sabbath millennium.

One problem is the Revelation 20 Millennium is never Biblically defined as a period of rest or even of peace.  1 Corinthians 15, the only place outside Revelation that clearly addresses there being a period between the Second Coming and the full New Creation, says in verses 24-28.

"Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."

It's defined sort of as a period of Conquest.  Zechariah 14 also seems to show it as a time when Jesus is ruling, but people are obeying him out of fear not love.  I've explained elsewhere how lots of passages people think are The Millennium are really the New Heaven and New Earth.  Those include Isaiah 65, Ezekiel 40-48 and Psalm 48.

But the greater death nail to the theory is that in fact there is more then a Thousand years between the destruction of The Beast and the Descent of New Jerusalem..

Revelation 20 has many conditions, but only one is defined as ending "when the Thousand years are over", Satan being bound in The Abyss.  The Beheaded Saints reign with Christ a thousand years, but it doesn't say their reign ends then.  The "rest of the dead" are not raised till after the Thousand years, but it doesn't say that happens immediately either.

Satan has to deceive the Nations before the Gog and Magog invasion can happen.  We have no idea how long he'll do that, it certainly could be very quickly, but maybe it could be a long time, years, centuries, maybe even another thousand years.

More important then that however is that I do agree with Chris White that the Gog and Magog invasion of Revelation 20 is the same as Ezekiel 38-39.  In which case we know their dead bodies will be buried for 7 years before being raised for the White Throne Judgment.  And the burying will take 7 months.

So I certainly think roughly 7 Thousand years is possible.  But I would highly advise against making needing exactly 6000 years pivotal to your chronology.  Though I have suggested one such theory in the past, but I had other reasons for that theory also, and now no longer support that chronology at all.

A stronger Biblical argument can be made for using the "Day like a Thousand years" idea with Hosea 5:15-6:2 for Two Thousand years from the Ascension.  Which refers to YHWH returning to His place for two days and coming back on the third day when Israel acknowledges their offense.  Hosea 5:15 is God talking.  Chapter 6 records what Israel will pray in their repentance, 6:2 has the time reference in mind.

Which based on my 30 AD date for the Crucifixion can back up a 2030-2037 model with a 2033 Rapture.

Because Hosea's statement was a Prophecy, that works better then looking at 7 literal days that did literally happen and saying that tells how long history will be when no Bible passage directly tells us that.

But it could be Hosea is also talking about literal 24 hour days.  Perhaps events that will transpire during the end times.

So I see Hosea as possibly implying about 2000 years from the Ascension to the Second Coming, but not necessarily exactly to the day or even exact year.

But I'm not gonna be dogmatic on that either, since I hate the Day=Year theory of historicists, I feel considering Day=Millennium definitive when the scriptural support for both is about equal is quite hypocritical.  The Day=Year theory does have a precedent in Ezekiel 4, but that is Ezekiel doing something for days he's told represents years, it does not justify saying every reference to days in Daniel and Revelation is really years.

Many people arguing for the 7 Millenniums theory incorporate the Hosea reference into it.  They argue Jesus was Crucified in the 4000th year from Adam, they provide no proper chronology to back that up, only asserting symbolic reasons it would make sense.  Then cite Hosea to support 2000 years from the first advent to the second.

Another argument for 6000 years is trying to say the 120 years of Genesis 6 refers to 120 Jubilees and 50x120=6000.  1. That is clearly about 120 years before the Flood, no mention of Jubilees, a second application to human life spans/what a generation is possible but not solid.  2. A Jubilee is actually 49 years, the 50th year is the first year of the next cycle.  3. The Jubliee was given to Moses to be instituted by Joshua, it's not relevant to any pre-Mosaic history.

I lay out a possible opinion on when the year 6000 was here.

Genesis 5-6 don't have anything happen on exactly the year 1000, Genesis 11-12 has nothing happen on exactly the year 2000 though there is a rabbinic tradition based on the wrong 1948 AM birth-date for Abraham that he first became a Believer at 52.  Ussher had the completion of The Temple in the year 3000 AM but if he was wrong on anything then that doesn't work.  Ussher's Creation date could also be used to make the proposed 3 BC Birth of Jesus date 4000 AM, but I no longer consider that date valid.

So I see no reason to think the year 6000 was or will be important.

Chris White addresses the Alexi Tsipras hype

http://bibleprophecytalk.com/bpt-alexi-tsipras-is-not-the-antichrist/

I agree this guy is probably unlikely to be The Antichrist, and a lot of the arguments for this guy are based on many misconceptions.

But I'm annoyed that again he presumes something about what the Religious affiliation of The Antichrist will be when he first rises based on the Abomination of Desolation which happens after his resurrection.

Even if your not as certain as I am that it is different from what he taught before, you can't deny that it could be.

He talks a lot about the wars in Daniel 11, which I've made a big deal of before too, but I'm gonna do a post in the future about how I think that maybe be already fulfilled and only topologically relevant to The Antichrist.

He concedes a belief that he must come from one of the Kingdoms of Alexander, which I've said before is an error.  I also think that the confederacy he's in must be limited to 10 is wrong too.

Like with his thing on Obama he has this idea it must happen before his current term is over, I also disagree with the Obama theory but that is silly on several levels.  Mainly that they will not cease to exist when their terms are over.

This Generation shall not pass

From Matthew 24 is one of the most debated details of Bible Prophecy.

The Preterist view is the most obviously wrong, in saying Jesus must have meant the people currently listening to him, they ignore the entire context in which that quote is made.

What I want to discus here is the disagreement among Futurists about whether or not it's valid to see this statement as being about modern Israel.

Throughout history Christians have wanted to believe they are living in the last generation.  Those of us living post 1948 feel the main thing that makes our belief the End Times will happen soon more legit is that for most of that history the lack of a nation of Israel in the Holy Land forced Bible Prophecy believers to allegorize everything to make it fit their own time.  The Temple is clearly in view in Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 11.

But none of that makes Israel's founding in 1948 a specific fulfillment of Prophecy.  And I agree with the critics of Dispensationalism and Zionisism that the major Bible Prophecies we keep trying to make sound like they're about 1948 are clearly in their Biblical Context about Israelites returning in Belief, and from a Christian POV modern Israel is still in Unbeleif.  Those Prophecies are really mainly about either stuff that happens after Armageddon and/or during the Millennium, or the descent of New Jerusalem.

As for Matthew 24, the debate is if the "This Generation" just refers to the ones who see the Signs Jesus had been describing?  That seems like the plainest reading, but the Mystery is the Parable of The Fig Tree bares investigating.  Matthew 24:32-34

"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Why see the blossoming of this Fig Tree as about Israel?

First there was a curious incident involving a real live Fig Tree earlier in Chapter 21 after Jesus first arrived in Jerusalem for this Passover season.   In which Jesus curses a Fig Tree to never bear fruit again, and then it withers and dies.  At face value this story interprets itself as being just a demonstration of the power of Faith.  But why demonstrate it in such an odd way?  Why not demonstrate it by giving life rather then taking it?

Commentators of Mathew's Gospel like Chuck Missler like to view Matthew 13 as when Israel's leadership rejects Jesus as Messiah.  If the Fig Tree is in some way a symbol of Israel, Jesus unstated intent may have been for his disciples to realize it's up to them to use the power of their Faith to restore life the Fig Tree that Jesus just withered.

Is there a basis in the Hebrew Scriptures for using the Fig Tree symbolically in such a way?

The first reference in The Bible to a fig trees is in Deuteronomy, that passage like many others is just listing them among various trees.

Judges 9:10-11 uses the Fig Tree as a symbol of Gideon, symbols of national leaders often becomes symbols of the nation.

1 Kings 4:25 describes the nation's peace and prosperity by saying "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon."  The Fig Tree is affiliated with Israel's prosperity.  2 Kings 18:41 repeats this imagery in the days of Hezekiah, the same situation is again repeated in Isaiah 36-39.  And it's used again in Jeremiah 5:17.  Later Jeremiah 8:13 says "I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them."

So all this together makes a re-blooming of a Fig Tree a good symbol for Israel's restoration.

Now to show this interpretation is not purely the result of Darby and other Nineteenth Century Dispensationalists.  The apocryphal Apocalypse of Peter which was probably written in the Second Century and was considered canon by many early Christians.  Clearly states the Olive Tree is Israel.  That writer's agenda in that identification may have been different from anyone today.  But the point is it existed.

You might object "Even so, it's about Spiritual restoration not nationally in unbelief".  That is true, but the two are linked.  Israel's Spiritual Blindness discussed in Romans 9-11 did not fully overtake them over night.  It was there from the Birth of The Church, but still the Early Church was mostly Jewish when it started, and in the region remained predominately Jewish until well after the Bar-Kochba revolt.

After Suileman began rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem from 1534-1541, Zionisim was born in 1561 thanks to Joseph Nasi.  And not long after in the wake of the Reformation, especially in the English Speaking world, Christian Zionism is born thanks to men like Thomas Brightman.

Likewise since 1948 Messianic Jews have gown in number greatly.  I'm a Dispensationalsit sort of but not a strict one like Pre-Tribers are.

However I will say the fact that it's first and foremost Spiritual means it may be an error to link it to some easily definable Geo-Political calendar date like 1948, or retaking Jerusalem in 1967, or even the yet Future rebuilding of The Temple.  It may be referring to the Spiritual Blindness being significantly lifted when the Abomination of Desolation happens. In which case a maximum number for a Generation is not needed.

But I refute the usual argument against Date-Setting here.

What number should be a Biblical Generation?

Hal Lindsay popularized 40 based on the wondering in The Wilderness.  F. Kenton Beshore has suggested 70-80 based on Psalm 90:10.  We could also use 120 based on Genesis 6, as well as that being about roughly the Maximum people can live to today, and it's how long Moses lived, and about the length of the combined reigns of Saul, David and Solomon.  But both Moses siblings were older then him and died earlier the same year.  And Jehoiada lived to 130.

There are also dates older then 1948 one could choose if they wanted to.  1897 is considered the Birth of the modern Zionist movement.  120 years from that is 2017, 2017 is popular in some currently trendy Speculation based on a flawed understanding of Revelation 12 which I've addressed before and am highly skeptical of.

1904 was an important year for reasons having to do with William Hechler's efforts and that being the beginning of a major wave of Jewish immigration to the region.  120 years from that is 2024.

In 1909 the city of Tel-Aviv the secular Capital of Modern Israel (or at-least the city the international community recognizes as it's capital) was founded by the ruins of Jaffa the ancient port city of Dan.  120 years from that is 2029.

The Balfour Declaration was in 1917, 120 years from then would be 2037.

1933 was the controversial transfer agreement, 120 years from that would be 2053.

1948+40 was 1988 which notoriously didn't happen. The 70-80 theory gives about 2018-2028 which lines up interestingly with some earlier numbers.  120 years from 1948 would be 2068.

1967 Israel recaptures Jerusalem, the Jewish construction in the Old City was officially allowed around Passover of 1969.  Adding 40 years was 2007-2009 which was nothing.  Adding 70-80 gets 2037/9-2047/9.  Adding 120 years gets 2087-2089.

So it'll be interesting to see how those possible dates line up with other speculative calculations.

Christmas and Pagan festivals linked to the Winter Solstice

The modern secular commercialized Christmas Holiday is Pagan, an amalgamation of various winter pagan traditions. The ones we in modern America are familiar with mostly come from Celtic and Norse/Germanic traditions more so then the Greeco-Roman/Egyptian/Levant/Mesopotamian religions The Bible's human authors directly interacted with..

Jeremiah 10 is about cutting down a tree to carve it into an idol, that's clear when you read the entire chapter.  Isaiah 60:13 refers to pine trees as decorations in a positive context.  The Christmas tree does have a relationship to some Germanic rituals involving trees, but the desire to connect it to that Jeremiah passage is a torturing of the text.  I Laugh at any pastor who calls a Pine Tree an Idol but has an American Flag in their Church.

There are pagan holidays all year round, the Wiccans and related Neo-Pagans alone have 8 evenly scattered throughout the year, all of which are based on ancient ones.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

No matter when Jesus was born, some Pagan holy day is near by if not exactly on it.   It's popular now to say he was born on one of the Tishi Jewish Holy Days, any one of those could fall on the Autumnal Equinox, and Tabernacles sometimes can fall late enough to put Halloween on one of it's 8 days.  Also the Full Moon of Tabernacles is always either the Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon.  As for those who think Jesus was born in the Spring, spring holidays will come up later.

The Church should do Spiritual warfare on Pagan holy days against the demonic forces whether or not there is a Biblical Holy Day to celebrate.  That includes reading The Bible, praying in unison, singing godly hymns ect.  So the way I see it whether the date is correct or not reading the Gospel Nativity narratives and singing the strictly Jesus centric Christmas hymns in December can never be a bad thing.

Rob Skiba even condemns the act of gift giving "why are giving gifts to other people if it's supposedly Jesus Birthday?" he says.  Because Jesus said "it is better to give to receive" and we are the Body of Christ so any gift given to a brother or sister in Christ is a gift to Jesus in my book.  I've always felt the healthy attitude is to delight in giving gifts but not feel entitled to receive any.

Christians should certainly never deceive their children into believing in Santa Claus (Odin), or the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy or any other such modern folk deities.  Satan has repeatedly used that as a means to make people doubt the existence of God.  One notorious example is Gene Roddenberry.

The other Pagan aspects like Christmas Trees and Yule Logs and Mistletoe may be harmless as long as you don't do them with false god worshiping intent.  But people think the same about Quij boards and many demonic possessions started from dabbling with that.  It's ultimately between you and the Holy Spirit.

What I'm seeking to refute here is the notion that December 25th specifically has it's origin in Paganism, and Christians only adopted it to co-opt the Pagan holiday.  This is based on the poor research of Hislop just like the Semiramis was married to Nimrod myth.

Now it's cited by countless both skeptics of Christianity and Christians as an absolute fact that every major Demigod or Avatar was born on December 25th.  But in fact that claim is no more credible then them being born of Virgins or Crucified or any other alleged parallel to Jesus claimed by Christ Mythers.  But it's the only popular Christ Myther claim used in films like Zeigueist that Christian apologists don't object to, instead the concede by saying December 25th isn't Biblical.

The Winter Solstice is actually the 21st or 22nd of December.  Saturnalia was many days that ended on December 23rd.

The only remote basis for claiming Mithra a connection to December 25th is the connection Mithra worship developed over time to Sol Invictus.  Mithra is a deity that always existed in Persia, but during the Hellenistic era he became popular in synchronizing Hellenic religion with Middle Eastern religion.  However everything we know about the Mithridic Cult of Roman Times goes back to the second Century at the earliest.  And none of it mentions December 25th.

It is the Roman Sol Invictus cult the date is accused of directly coming from.  And that is indeed the cult that Constantine and other Romanizeing Christians were trying to merge Christianity with.  But it seems the superficial things like names and dates are what were taken from Christianity, while the Substance came from Paganism.

The Sol Cult was created in the early Third Century. but it was not the official Imperial Cult until Aurelian made it so in 274.  Aurelian held games to Sol Invictus in October not December.  All Pre Constantine references to the Sol cult refers to festivals in December no later then the 22nd.  But the August festivals were considered far more important.

All of this after December 25th for Jesus Birth had been refereed to by Hippolytus as I documented in my previous post.

The Earliest reference to a Sol Invictus holiday on December 25th is the Chronography of 354.  The exact same source refers to Jesus being born on December 25th as well.  So Jesus was on December 25th first, it was Sol who was moved.

Dionysus is another deity who comes up.  Dionysus aka Bacchus aka Bromius had many festivals all over the year, pretty much every month there was a Bacchus festival somewhere in Greece.  The Greeks however even after they adopted a Solar calendar for Civil purposes still used the Lunar Attic Calendar for religious ceremonies.  So none were linked to December 25th consistently.  The Roman Bacchanilias were the only ones linked to a Solar calendar, they were in Spring.

Bacchus had many Births in Greek Mythology, but the Festivals linked to his Birth were always in Spring.

Before Christianity came along, rarely were winter holidays about births.  Pagans, especially if they were worshiping a Solar deity (Sol, Mithras, Apollo as he latter became), or Vegetation deities (Bacchus, Attis, Tammuz) would have considered the Winter Solstice the WORST time to affiliate with their god's birth.

That is when the days are shortest and the Sun is seemingly less powerful then usual, and plant-life is seemingly dead.  The Winter Solstice is in fact defined as when the Sun dies and then rises again.

To the Pagans, Christmas and Easter should be switched.  The Winter Solstice is when Solar and Vegetation Gods die and rise again (none of that being the same as Biblical Resurrection which is about defeating Death not carrying out an endless cycle) and Spring is the time for Birth and Youth and Vitality.  A child born on the Spring Equinox would be conceived around the Summer Solstice (June 21st) when the Sun is at it's most powerful.

Egypt was perhaps an exception, their unique dependence on the Nile inverted a lot of things.  Including making Summer rather then Winter the time they affiliated with death due to the Nile drying up.  But our documentation of dates related to Horus and Osiris are shaky and largely dependent on sources no older then Plutarch.  With even how to interpret/translate what Plutarch said being disagreed on.

Some sources say he was born on the 5th of the Epagomenal Days, which would be in August on our calendar.  An October/November (Khoiak) birth for Horus has also been cited.  It's important to remember according to the Egyptian kings-list there were two Horuses, the latter the son of the first and Hathor. 

This changed because of trying to merge Christianity and Paganism, so modern Neo-Pagans may or may not find reason to justify Births at the Winter Solstice and Death at the Spring Equinox (and claim ancients saw them the same way).  Just as they'll seek to justify seeing a Virgin Birth as Pagan even though the ancients considered the idea of a goddess being both a mother and a virgin at the same time unthinkable.

You know what, Switching those two things around is exactly in God's character.  The Pagan Caananites built their temples facing East, so God told Israel their Tabernacle should face West.

Now you may think "don't pagans talk about death and rebirth"  Pagans affiliated conception and the sexual act with both death and rebirth.  One layer of meaning to it is seeing the... I'm going to get a little crude here... Erect Penis becoming flaccid after it ejaculates as a type of death.  Then when it in time becomes hard again later as a rebirth.  So when Isis temporarily reanimated Orisis to conceive Horus in part represents her getting Osiris hard one last time before he becomes permanently impotent.

Judeao-Christians thought also (for different reasons) liked to see symmetry in seeing Conception and death happening on the same day of the year.  In the post this is a follow up to I talk about why it can make sense to see Jesus as conceived around Passover or First Fruits.

Seeing Jesus as being born in September as is popular with people like Rob Skiba who puts His conception in December.  The irony is Skiba has been tricked into rejecting December 25th as the birthday of the gods he wrongly thinks are Nimrod.  But in turn has placed Jesus conception where sun gods are killed and conceived.

Apollo specifically was believed to have spent the winter months in hyperborrea, a mythical northern land.  Why would the Greeks affiliate Apollo's birth with the time they believed he was gone?  Ten festivals on the Greek calendar were affiliated with Apollo, some are harder to find info on then others.  Boedromia was in the Summer, Carnea was in August.  When Daphnephoria happened in the year seems unknown, but it wasn't annual, it was every nine years.  Hyacithia was in Summer.

The only ones not in Summer are Pyanopsia being in October, and Thrgelia which is the only one identified as being affiliated with birth.  Apollo and Artemis were it seems born on May 6th and May 7th respectively.  Later in Roman times Augustus Caesar made his birthday (September 23rd) the national holiday of Apollo, because he was seeking to be seen as an incarnation of Apollo, hence Virgil's fourth Ecalouge and it's made up prophecy from the Sybil.  And the Coptic Calander shows that Egyptians placed the Birth of the Sun in September at the end of the Month of Mesori.

I think it's interesting that John The Baptist was both conceived and born exactly 6 months before Jesus.

All the pagan birthdates I can find (besides contradictory info on Horus birth) seem to fall in spring, not winter.

That fact about Augustus is very interesting because that's contemporary with the Birth of Christ.  This man who could be viewed as a type of The Antichrist, was being deified as an incarnation of one of the gods Rob Skiba thinks is his imaginary version of Nimrod.  His birth and Apollo were being celebrated at about the Autum Equinox during the time the Nativity narrative happened.  But we're today being told your celebrating the birth of Apollyon if you celebrate Christmas in December rather then September.

The death of Tammuz (and the women weeping for Tammuz) happened at the summer Solstice (usually in the Hebrew month that became named after Tammuz).  The Greek Adonia for Adonis was the same time.  Tammuz died about the Summer Solstice and was risen about the Winter Solstice, Ishtar took his place dying about the Winter Solstice and rising about the Summer Solstice.

I've seen some Christians spreading Christmas paranoia (like Michael Rood) add to and confuse this trying to bring Spring holidays into it and saying Tammuz or someone was born on December 25th.  But that is all nonsense.  Winter was his resurrection not his birth.

Again, modern Neo-Pagans often like all this comparative mythology stuff so you may see material from them supporting births at the winter solstice.  But nothing backs that up in actual ancient sources.

Even if an ancient pre 354 AD example of a pagan deity born on the Winter Solstice can be found, so what.  Genesis 1 tells us the Sun, Moon and Stars were all given for times and for seasons.  At the Exodus God codified a Lunar Calendar for Israel, but the Moon is never a symbol for Jesus himself, Malachi calls Jesus the Sun of Righteousness.  So when the days begin growing longer makes sense as a time for him to be born.  That pagans also found significance in that is just a reminder that Satan can only copy and corrupt the things of God.

Maybe The Antichrist will claim the same Birthday, so what, I have reasons to suspect Satan will arrange for him to be killed on Passover too.

Dionysus is interesting to study in relation to Hannukah.

First Maccabees chapter 1 verse 54 to the end says Antiochus Epiphanes placed his Idol in the Holy of Holies on the 15th of Kislev, and on the 25th sacrifices were made to the Idol.  The same day it was cleansed 3 years later.

The 15th would be after a Full Moon, and since as I said the Greeks also used a Lunar calendar for their religion this could have been significant.  This time of year among other things is when the Athenian Rural Dionysia would happen.

Second Maccabees informs us that the feast of Bacchus was kept in The Temple.  That could be significant, but we're not told which feast, or if this is really supposed to be an elaboration on the ritual that first desecrated The Temple.

People will use this same material from Second Maccabees 6 to say Antiochus Epiphanes birthday was celebrated in The Temple.  And overlap that with the 25th of Ksilev reference to say Antiochus was born on December 25th.  But Second Maccabees 6 was referring to the day of the Kings' birth every MONTH not a yearly anniversary, and again there is no evidence that it is connected to the Kislev 25th sacrifices.

The Books of Maccabees do place Antiochus Epiphanes death about the same time The Temple was cleansed, three years after he first desecrated it.

Again the Rural Dionysia was not about Dionysus' birth.  It was a festival that like many other Dionysian festivals was affiliated with the Theater, a time for Plays to be performed and competitions between play writers to be held.  So the Rural Dionysia's main contribution to modern Christmas is the Christmas season being a time when Hollywood releases (besides Summer) the most of it's big event movies.

I'm absolutely NOT one of those Baptists saying it's bad to enjoy a good time at the movies, or to enjoy any secular media.  I love going to the Cinema, there is a 50/50 chance I'll see The Force Awakens this Christmas.  Just be aware of the possible secret reasons behind when they release them.

Returning to my earlier themes though.  If the Antichrist's abomination of Desolation is on his birthday which could be something he'd want to do.  We know that Abomination is at the Midway Point of the seven year period, which I'm convinced will occur in Tishei (September-October).  Meaning it'd be evidence for the Antichrist's birthday in Fall not Winter.  And I think it's possible the opening of the Abyss is 9 months before that.