History of Christmas.

Tom's Journal. http://tomschuckmanjournal.blogspot.com/

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I TAKE COMFORT, AT LEAST, IN THE FACT THAT THIS GENTLEMAN DID HIS HOMEWORK, AND TELLS THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER !!   Yet, I knew all of this BEFORE...
    And I feel pretty much like he does.  I am not here to bash things, but to live and let live.  I want to peacefully co-exist with all men, as long as their notions don't put pressure on me to violate my allegience to Father God, and the Son.   I will obey God as ruler rather than men.

Tom

The Daily Jot

Daily reporting and analysis of current events from a biblical and prophetic perspective.

NOTE: When writing about God and Jesus, The Daily Jot means YHVH as God and Yeshua Ha Mashiach as Jesus--the actual original names and the true nature and character of them. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 Short notes on the history of Christmas As we gather together with family and friends on Christmas day, there will be some who say it is a pagan holiday, others who want to honor the Lord, and still others who just want an excuse to celebrate and enjoy. But do we really know what we are celebrating? According to various accounts of the origin of the Christmas holiday, Christmas coincides with the traditional celebration of the Roman commemoration of the pagan god Saturn, called Saturnalia, which began on December 17th. This festival lasted seven days until December 24th. On December 25th, the Romans celebrated the birthday of what they called the "unconquered sun." December 25th also corresponds with the beginning of winter solstice. Pagans celebrated at a similar time a festival called "Yule," which lasted from late December to January. Yule logs were made in the honor of Thor, the god of thunder. This festival consisted of 12 days of drinking, eating and partying. As Northern Europe became more and more Christian in the 900's, the pagan celebrations and Christmas seemed to integrate. To this day, Scandinavian countries call Christmas "Yule." Christmas appears to have been established when the Catholic church combined the pagan sun festivals with the birth of Jesus, justifying the integration that the rebirth of the sun was symbolic of the birth of Jesus Christ. Protestants rejected Christmas during the reformation and the 1600's. In fact, Pilgrim leader and governor of the Massachusetts colony William Bradford did not ban Christmas as history revisionists like to promote, but Bradford held that those who said it was against their consciences to work on Christmas should not be playing in the streets when others were going about the colony's work. Early Protestants believed that no one knew the exact date of the birth of Jesus Christ. They also knew that the Catholic Church had celebrated Christmas during the same time of traditional pagan festivals. Out of favor in the late 1700's, Christmas was revitalized in the 1840's after Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" became popular. It is likely that Christmas falls no where near the actual birth date of Jesus Christ. It is just like a strategy of satan to confuse people with a counterfeit so closely aligned with pagan festivals. But perhaps it is good and proper that Christians celebrate this day even if it is only the symbolic birth of Christ, who while He lived had no place to lay His head and in his death no one remembers his real birth date. For one day of the year at least, we are reminded of Him who the Apostle John described in John 1:9, "That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." May the one true Light of the world shine from your heart on this day and every day. Have a Blessed and Powerful Day! Bill Wilson www.dailyjot.com

Pretty Things.

Tom's Journal. http://tomschuckmanjournal.blogspot.com/

tschuckman@aol.com

Don't we all like "Pretty Things ??"

Merry Christmas ! !

How to Protect Your Home With Defensive Bushes

30

Most people like to keep their homes equally inviting on the inside and outside. This is especially true in modern-day suburbia where many homeowners keep their lawns and gardens looking pristine. The landscaping outside sets the stage for what the inside of the home will look like.
A well-manicured lawn with trimmed bushes and freshly planted flowers is more likely to surround a home with hardwood floors, granite countertops and expensive electronics. A yard with uncut grass and crumbling walkways is more likely to give way to unkempt home with less valuable possessions. This isn’t always the case, but thieves have taken advantage of this rule of thumb many times over.
It’s usually the dead giveaways and false sense of security that certain homes display that make them easy marks for burglars. The car you drive and your trash can give a thief a lot of information about your finances and purchases. Yet it’s also the homes with little or no visible security features (cameras, motion lights, fencing) that often draw in the criminal.
People break into homes because they are driven by greed and the desire to take from others, or we make it too easy for them to do so. Instead of going for the big homes with sports cars in the driveway, thieves often go for the most vulnerable homes that offer the easiest access.

Climbing variety of roses

As a homeowner, you can go to great lengths to fortify your home and property to protect it against thieves and home invaders. Fortunately, you don’t need to shell out a ton of cash on hi-tech alarms and cameras to deter them. Instead, all you need is to make it more difficult for them to access your home’s weakest entry points from the outside.

Below we will discuss the idea of protecting your home with various plants and defensive bushes, which are often all it takes to make a prowling thief skip your home altogether.

Bushes from Wall to Window

Believe it or not, plants and bushes have been used for centuries to designate property lines and home perimeters. They’ve also been adapted to make those homes and properties more protected against outside threats. These same techniques still apply whether you simply want to bolster your home’s security or are preparing your property for surviving the apocalypse.

Thorny and spiked plants growing in vulnerable spots near your home and property are unwelcome signs to intruders. Their natural forms of protection create a hostile environment for a potential thief to pass through.

Defensive plants and bushes can scratch, cut, and puncture the thief and cause him to leave behind DNA in the form of blood, skin, or torn clothing.

Keep in mind that not every variety of plant can grow in certain parts of the world. Its up to you to do the research as to what will work best for your home and property.

A hedgerow of thorny bushes can go a long way to discouraging unwanted intruders. These bushes should be thick and tall enough to discourage intruders from fighting their way over or through. Yet they should also be cropped low enough to keep your home visible from the street. That way, thieves are less likely to go to work without being spotted.

Accordingly, most plants and trees in your yard should be trimmed regularly to give you a clear line of sight across your property and eliminate hiding spots for thieves.

Trees with thorns on their trunk and branches are less likely to be scaled in order to get to a second floor window or balcony.

Honey Locust

Some examples include:

• Argentine Mesquite (2-inch thorns),
• Black Locust (1 to 2-inch thorns that cause skin swelling),
• Honey Locust (sharp red thorns).

Thorn bearing bushes, especially when planted around windows, can be a nightmare to get caught up in.

Just one brush against certain thorn bushes can be enough to send a thief packing. That is unless he’s wearing several layers of protective clothing and fueled with determination (or stupidity).

Pyracantha

The pyracantha, or fire thorn bush, contains thorns that leave a burning sensation that lasts for hours.

The catsclaw acacia also contains burning nettles that it conceals under yellow flowers and plumes of green leaves.

Oregon grape holly (as well as other varieties of holly) is both attractive and dangerous with its abundance of multi-spiked leaves.

Then there’s always the many variety of cacti, most of which are covered in sharp and irritating thorns that can grow several inches in length.

Vined plants that grow upward and out are another eye pleaser that also serve as a natural form of security.

Bougainvillea (common to Central and South America) bloom beautiful pinkish-purple flowers that conceal pointy thorns.

Climbing varieties of roses can serve a similar purpose and be cultivated to span entire walls of your home.

Blackberry and raspberry vines also grow thorns that serve to protect their fruits, giving you both protection and a supply of freshly grown food.

While not comprehensive, these ideas should help you get started using Mother Nature to help protect your home and property. Landscaping as means to fortify your home against intruders is a concept that most homeowners overlook when formulating a security plan or preparing for a disaster survival situation.

In today’s times, a locked door and security alarm isn’t always enough to stop a determined thief. But if your yard, walls, and windows are covered with defensive bushes and plants, most thieves will think twice before attempting to break in.

Find out more about first layer of defense – your perimeter, on Buletproof Home – Chapter 5.