CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Newsletter - The Heathen Roots Of The Hanukkah Bush

n the burgeoning movement that seeks to get back to the alleged "roots" of the Gospel through an ill advised re-emphasis on all things Jewish, we find one of the crown jewels of religious hypocrisy in the tradition of Hanukkah.

The "feast" of Hanukkah, also known as The Festival of Lights, has become a staple of Messianic Jewish apostasy, and as the movement grows, CINO's (Christians In Name Only), are increasingly trading in their "Christmas" trees for a Hanukkah "bush."

The Hanukkah tradition (sometimes spelled Chanukkah to accommodate the verbal pronunciation) is said to be rooted in the Maccabean revolt, usually dated at 167 BC. History records the Graeco-Syrian oppression in Judaea under the notorious despot Antiochus IV was ended in the clash, with several non-Biblical sources, such as the two books of the Maccabees, the Talmud, Mishna, and others documenting the event.

Although accounts vary, the story goes that after Antiochus was overthrown, the Jewish temple had been defiled through the introduction of heathen ceremonial practices initiated by the Grecian tyrant. Under the Old Testament laws, a ritual cleansing of the temple was needed, and was performed.

As part of the ceremonial dedication of the now cleansed temple, the lighting of the temple candlestick required oil, which was said to be in short supply. The story goes the Maccabbeans found only one sealed, uncontaminated vessel of olive oil for the lighting of the lamp, and although it was thought to be only enough for one day, it miraculously burned for eight days - thus the alleged miracle is celebrated in what is also called the "Festival of Lights."

Sources vary as to why the Jewish candelabra, known as the Menorah, was to burn for eight days. One authority says that is how long it takes to press and prepare olive oil, while others point to calculations drawn from adjacent temple ritual periods which had been neglected under the reign of the Syrian dynasty known as the Seleucids. In view of the heroic fight by the Jews against the superior forces of the government of the evil Antiochus Epiphanes, it’s likely there were facets of the fight when the number eight became significant.

It should also be stated that, at the time of the inauguration of the Hasmonean dynasty (the Hebrew name for the Romanized family name Maccabee), the Jews were celebrating eight feasts - the seven feasts created by the LORD in the Old Testament, plus the annual feast of Purim which the Jews themselves began at the time when they were delivered from the massive plot to destroy them seen in the book of Esther.

The two non-Yahweh devised feasts of Purim and Hanukkah are laced with Satanic Spiritual Signatures, but in the repressive political environment of the present generation, it's only acceptable to analyze and critique Christian tradition, as most people fear the repercussions of publicly voicing antagonism towards Islamic or Jewish heresy.

I note, for instance, the mathematical symbolism in that God initiated seven feasts (surely a Biblically significant number), but the Jews added two feasts (Purim and Hanukkah) which gives us the decidedly occultic number nine – the symbolical sacred numeral, for example, that runs throughout Babylonian lore.

When we examine Hanukkah with the lens of Scripture without the leaven of Jewish Supremacism which is now deeply embedded in the modern “church,” we find the entire practice is thoroughly occultic in origin.

The holiday sank to a new low long ago when certain Hanukkah observers began to emulate the Christmas celebration by using a bush instead of a tree, and decorating it with lights and other artifacts of Jewish significance. Even though many so-called "Messianic" Jews who observe Hanukkah reject the adoption of a Hanukkah bush, they are doing exactly what their "Christian" counterparts do, as some "believers" reject the tree (usually citing the rampant commercialism in the "holy" day), but retain other aspects of the heathen celebration.

To put it bluntly, it matters not if you piously get on your knees in Satan’s sanctuary, or just sit in his pews in a reserved posture. Either way, you’re in a place where the Devil has a significant influence in your life.

In the study of Hanukkah, the ironies are exquisite, as so called "Messianic Jews" openly assail "Christian" practices (such as the notoriously pagan Christmas tree, as well as the season's derivation from the Roman Saturnalia), while conveniently ignoring the fact that the Hanukkah "bush" and its adjacent "Festival of Lights" plainly exhibits dependency on the same sources which corrupted the church.

The allegedly Christian practice of utilizing lights on a tree, and decorating one’s home with exterior lights is paralleled in Hanukkah, as it is common practice to place the flickering menorah in windows "so that passers-by should see it and be reminded of the holiday's miracle" (Wikipedia).

It is self evident there is no Scriptural authority for the holiday, or the practices associated with the now deeply ingrained tradition; however, in the era of Antichrist under which we now moan and travail, the ascension of the Little Horn of Israel, and its political and religious power, has been granted an air of legitimacy by the apostate church of our day.

Conversely, a reputable Jewish historian notes the much earlier practice of the Saturnalia, and its antecedent religious pageantry found in Persian, Babylonian, and even Egyptian cultures clearly places both Hanukkah and Christmas as Jewish and Christian abominations which were adapted from much earlier Satanic ritual.

For example, the evidence suggests the concept of a "Festival of Lights" actually originates with celestial lights which eerily occurred in the week preceding the flood of Noah.

The Genesis account tells of a seven day period which preceded the flood without specifics in terms of signs in the heavens; however, common experience tells us there are usually warnings in the sky before a big storm arrives. Obviously, the rainstorm which accompanied the great flood was a catastrophic event, so it is difficult to think there were no stellar events preceding it.

Some see a subtle reference to the week of lights in the sky in the following verse in Isaiah, which is thought to refer to the Millennial reign of Christ:

"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days…." (Isaiah 30:26)

Not only does the grammatical tense of Hebrew allow for a statement in which the above verse may be translated as "the light of the seven days" (as in the seven days before the flood), one of the Hebrew words in the very same verse also refers to "streams of water" – a secondary allusion to the flood.

There is significant anecdotal evidence pointing towards a planetary event in the solar system as the mechanism which brought about the flood of Noah, and most of it points towards the planet Saturn. This is relevant because the evidence also connects Saturn with many pagan deities, and they are always associated with shining, and lights. Further, there are written traditions of seven days of strange lights in the sky during the week preceding the flood.

This is consistent with the data pointing towards an ancient time when Saturn was far more prominent in the biosphere, for the evidence indicates that as the only viable gas giant in our solar system, Saturn was at one time ignited in a fashion similar to our sun. In what is usually called "the golden age," the planet was still burning brightly, and worshiped as Alap-Shamash, or "the star of the sun."

Clearly another echo of Lucifer the "light bearer," this heathen shining star deity is seen in the Old Testament as Chemosh. His worship is echoed in the Hanukkah ritual, for the religious celebration involves a special menorah which holds nine candles. The Hebrews call it a Hanukkiya, and the outside eight candles, supposedly signifying the eight days, are in two groups of four, with a prominent middle candle referenced in Jewish lore named the shamash.

The "shamash" is the ignition candle which is used in the Hanukkah ritual to ignite the other eight candles.

The ancient Jews imported the worship of "Shamash" from the heathen nations around them, culminating in Solomon’s grandiose apostasy:

"Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon" (I Kings 11:7)

The worship of the "Festival Of Lights" star god Shamash continued through the ages. To the Babylonians he was Tammuz, whose pageant included the cutting down of a green tree to commemorate when his light was extinguished during the Winter Solstice.

He is always associated with lights, and shining. The Latin Lucifer (the shining one) is the Greek Kronos, also identified with Helios - a term frequently applied to the sun. He is also Phaenon, which also has a literal meaning of The Shining One.

To the Persians, he was Kevan, seen in the book of Amos as Chiun, again in association with Molech, the brightly shining star god who Solomon honored alongside Shamash. The LORD rebuked Israel for this association with the host of heaven, who shone for seven days before the flood:

"Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness, forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves" (Amos 5:25,26).

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is a Babylonian echo of the Genesis flood of Noah, the account describes conditions just prior to the great flood, and references

"…flaming torches, lighting up the land with their brightness" (Epic Of Gilgamesh, A Heidel, Tablet XI,, referenced by Velikovsky, In The Beginning)

Other religious accounts speak of a warning of seven days before a great judgment. For instance, multiple Sanskrit texts, referencing the universal flood, speak of suns being "ignited," and a "dazzling radiance" that preceded the great deluge. (Skanda Purana In Shastri, The Flood Legend in Sanscrit Literature, cited by Velikovsky, ITB)

The documentation which associates the flood with Saturn is extensive, and is the subject of the Christian Media published book In The Beginning. See also the DVD The Star Seed Conspiracy.

The Festival Of Lights, on which Hanukkah is styled, actually predates the Maccabean revolt by over a thousand years, so the ceremony in which the Jews re-dedicated the temple with a celebration association with ritual lights is just another adaptation of the Saturnalia – the same path of transmission associated with the lighting of the "Christmas" tree, and the practice of placing lights around the house during the seasonal celebration.

It is seen in ancient Egypt twenty centuries before Hanukkah in what was then called The Feast of Lamps. The ancient historian Herodotus, hundreds of years before the Maccabeans, wrote of the ancient Egyptian practice:

"There is one night on which the inhabitants all burn a multitude of lights in the open air around their houses….the Egyptians who are absent from the festival observe the night of the sacrifice, no less than the rest, by a general lighting of lamps; so that the illumination is not confined to the city of Sais, but extends over the whole of Egypt" (Herodotus II, Rawlinson translation).

Parallels to the above were found by Frazier, the famous author of the decidedly occultic Golden Bough, as he compared the light festival of Osiris with Adonis, Attis, and other deities. Roman sources clearly admit the Saturnalia dependency on much earlier ritual, so the relatively late Jewish absorption of the Festival of Lights is, without a doubt, derived from the ancient occult.

Ironically, the latest wave of hypocrisy involves so called Messianic Jews (or those of Jewish descent who claim to follow Christ while mingling the Gospel with ritual Judaism), condemning the pagan origin of Christmas, while continuing to enthusiastically embrace Hanukkah – a feast celebration which is only seen in the Old Testament as a practice of the heathen nations who worshiped Lucifer.

Many of the apostates mentioned in the present work rely upon the text in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus is seen in the temple, during the Feast of Dedication, which is associated with Hanukkah:

"And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch" (John 10:22.23).

In an attempt to legitimatize the profane holiday, Hanukkah promoters claim this verse demonstrates that Christ attended the dedication ceremony, when it obviously makes no such statement of the LORD’s embrace of this particular heathen component of Jewish apostasy. Indeed, Christ decried the money-changer's presence in the temple, but it hardly kept him from walking through the temple precincts.

However, the verse is intriguing as it clearly ties the dedication to the season of Saturnalia, for the Scripture includes the fact that "it was winter." I suspect a subtle clue since the Holy Spirit saw fit to connect the Hanukkah celebration to Solomon by mentioning the room addition to the temple known as "Solomon’s Porch" – the very same Solomon who installed the worship of Shamash into the temple system.

Last but hardly least, the mathematical symbolism of the number eight, seen in the eight days of light "miracle," and the eight candles ignited by "Shamash," is closely related to several prophetic cycles seen in Revelation.

In study after study, book after book, and broadcast after broadcast, I’ve shown a connection between Israel, as the Antichrist, and the “church” as the False Prophet beasts, which are imaged in Revelation. This is related to a fundamental understanding of the identity associated with the Spirit of Antichrist - that spirit which rejects Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, in Revelation, the number eight repeatedly symbolizes the idea of adding to the perfect number seven - the precise activity described wherein the ancient Israelites added to the seven feasts of the LORD.

"And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition" (Revelation 17:11)

With the holiday of Hanukkah, significant numbers of Christians are leaving the pagan practices associated with the church (the False Prophet), but they are exchanging them for equally iniquitous religious accouterments which they believe to be Godly because of their Hebrew associations (The Antichrist).

This is in accord with many Scriptures which show the False Prophet “causing” the world to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

Those who truly love the LORD Jesus Christ would do better to reject all brands of heathen religion, including the "Jewish fables" the Apostle Paul warned of in Titus 1:14, and rethink their relationship to the person of the only begotten Son of God.

-- James Lloyd