The Actual Birth Date of Jesus Christ (5)

There is no doubt in our mind that the world has accepted the December 25th date as the birth date of Jesus. Come to think of it, if Christ first coming was to determine His second coming, what would have become of Christians who are careless in their service to God? Inadvertently, it would have been simple to say that the world would have falling into the greatest deception ever. Meanwhile, the true feast that really acknowledges the birth of Jesus has been overturned for another recognized celebration in the Roman Catholic calendar- Mary birth date which is celebrated on September 8 according to the catholic teaching. Though, this date was initially meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary. Nevertheless, there is still widespread belief among non-Catholics that this is the day Jesus was conceived- a possible lingering remembrance of the original meaning of this date. We can also tell from Luke's Gospel that Jesus had been born in early evening, for Luke says the shepherds were keeping watch by night, but still had time to go into town and tell the people what they had seen earlier that evening. People rose early with the sun in those days, and would have been asleep by 9 or 10 pm. Therefore, the birth had taken place no later than 8 pm, and probably before 7 pm. Yet Luke says it happened at night, which means after sunset- surely after 6 pm on September. Hence, it follows that Jesus was born within a few minutes of 6:30-7:30 pm on the evening of September 11th, 3 BC. A confirmation of this time is in the book of Revelation. Historian Ernest L. Martin consulted NASA lunar-phase tables and found the image of the heavens in Revelation 12 showed where the sun and the moon were, relative to Virgo, at the time Jesus was born, pin-pointing sunset of September 11th of 3 BC. It seems the moon moves so quickly, it is "beneath the feet" of Virgo only a few hours every month. Moreover, the moon comes within two lunar diameters of Virgo's feet at the time of a new moon but once in 30 years. The only such occurrence any time near the birth of Jesus was on September 11th, 3 BC. Most previous attempts at determining the birth time was based upon astrology and dating the Star of Bethlehem. No one considered 3 BC because that year had erroneously been assumed to follow Herod's death. However, Dr. Martin has proven that Herod did not die in 4 BC, but in 1 BC. Scholars are now generally accepting the new chronology for Herod, and this in turn has allowed the confirmation of the New Testament date for the birth of Jesus. Unfortunately, many churches continue to promote the critics' errors and paganized traditions about the Nativity of Christ.